Walking Dead: Survivor
by Exile037
Summary: Noah Kane was just a average college kid, until the outbreak started. Now he must survive with others in a post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak. He will face walkers, psychos and bandits in order to fight for survival. Can Noah make it in through the apocalypse and live through it all? Will he have what it takes to survive? M just in case. Lee/Carly
1. A New Day

Chapter 1: A New Day

Narration

My name is Noah Kane. I'm a survivor of the outbreak that started in Atlanta, and I'm twenty years old. It was just a normal day. I was riding with my friend from college, heading to Macon for some place to eat. It was with me talking to Francis and his girlfriend Haley, so nothing much happened. That was until we hit something, causing the car we were driving to crash into the woods. After a whole ten minutes of gaining consciousness, I was alive but my friend and his girlfriend were already dead covered in a pool of their own blood together. Francis was impaled in the chest by a sharp tree branch, Haley on the other hand was dead because of a pencil stuck her neck. I didn't know what to believe anymore, both of my friends were dead. At least that's what I thought. All of a sudden Francis started struggling to move away from the branch, but Haley rose up from the ground and... and she tried to bite me. She was trying to feed on me like some damn animal. In the next minute, I struck her down three times with a rock I grabbed nearby, even hit her in the head with the rock one last time to make sure she was actually dead. I didn't even understand it all. One minute they're dead, and in the next they start moving with one of them trying to eat me.

That's when one thing crossed my mind. They were turned to zombies. Walkers of the living dead. I wanted to go on with my theory more, but I heard unnatural groaning leading to be more zombies nearby. So there was only one option for me: run like hell!

End Narration

20 year old light skin black american Noah Kane ran through the forest, avoiding zombies trailing behind him as he climbed up a fence wall. He was wearing a long sleeve orange shirt and faded blue jeans, along with a pair of tennis shoes. He moved further away from the fence wall, trying to catch his breath as he noticed a sharp survivalist knife on the porch step. He grabbed it and strapped it under his belt while Noah continued catching breath. However, that was call short when he heard a scream. A child's scream. Noah ran toward the direction as he noticed a black little girl, possibly eight years old wearing a D baseball cap over her head and a African-American man in his late thirties. Down below was one of the walkers of the dead, lying in a pool of its own blood. Its head struck with some sort of blunt object, with Noah seeing the bloodied hammer the man had in his hand.

"Everybody alright?" the two looked at Noah. "I heard screaming, so I came to see if anyone needed help. But looks like you guys are okay."

the man shifted his gaze at Noah. "Who are you?"

"My name is Noah." he walked in, heading for the sink as he took a gulp of water. "What about you two?"

"I'm Lee." said person gester his hand toward the young little girl. "This is Clementine."

"Are you her dad or you two just met?" Noah asked

"We've met only just recently." Lee stated. "She's been here alone all by herself."

Noah blinked. "Seriously?" Lee nodded his head in answer. "Damn."

"What do we do?" Clementine said with her hand on her arm

"We should start leaving right now. This place won't be safe after dark." Noah suggested, walking toward them while moving away from the spilled blood spot on the kitchen floor

"He's right. We need to find help before it gets dark." Lee told Clementine

"Yeah, it's not safe at night." she said in understanding as Lee approached the porch door with Clementine holding his hand

"Stay close at me." he said to Clementine, while Noah followed both of them out

The three of them step out, with Issiah closing the porch door behind him. They moved out of the porch. Clementine ran ahead, while Noah noticed Lee limping on his right leg. But he ignored it as the three moved on, heading toward the gate. That's when they spotted two people trying to move a car out the way. Judging by the looks of them, the look gave off that were from a ranch in rural Georgia. Both of them were men, with one having a slim build and the other overweight. Noah was the first to open the gate, but stopped to see Clementine looking down as Lee crouched down.

"What's the matter?"

"Should I stay?" Clementine asked in a worried tone

"What do you mean, Clem?" Noah asked, giving her a nickname

"I don't want to sleep in the treehouse tonight," Clementine paused to glance back at her house. "But I don't know if I should leave. What if my parents come home?"

"I won't leave you here alone." Lee said

"Me too." Noah agreed, giving his finger a tap on Clementine's hat with a smile crossing his face. "We won't leave you here by yourself."

"Let's go somewhere else that's close, okay?"

"That's a good idea." Lee got up with Noah opening the gate, catching the attention of the farm boys

"Holy shit!" said the slim one

"Don't eat us!" the overweight farm hand yelled

"Relax. We're not... one of them." Noah reassured motioning his hands calmly. "And we're not going to hurt you."

"Phew. Thought for a second you two and the little one were BOTH going to get us the chomp."

"We need help." Lee replied

"Are you trying to get out of here? You should be." the slim farm boy said. "Those things are all over the damn place. I haven't seen anything this gnarly as this neighborhood since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back. I'm Shawn. Shawn Greene."

"Lee. This is Clementine and Noah." Lee introduced with Mike shaking Shawn and his friend's hand, with Shawn's friend crouching down to Clementine with a smile on his as he waved

"I'm Chet."

"We shouldn't be out in the open like this." Shawn stated. "How about you help us clear the way and we'll you and your daughter along with your friend out of here, and down to my family's farm. Should be safe there."

Lee shook his head in a no. "I'm not her dad. I'm... just some guy."

Shawn quirked his eyebrows as soon as Lee said that comment. "Some guy?"

"Yeah."

Shawn looked down at Clementine. "She's alone?" he asked with Noah nodding his head with a yes. "Let's get going. Staying put for too long is a mistake."

"What do you want to do?" Lee asked Clementine as she looked at her home

"I..." she trailed off until they heard a non-living sound ahead of them

"Them monsters comin'! We gotta go!" Chet said as he hid in the front side of the truck, with Shawn, Lee and Noah moving the car using their strength

"We gotta move this thing, quick!" Shawn said as Clementine helped in moving the car away from the pick up truck

"Everybody in the truck, now!" Noah yelled as he jumped in the back of the truck with Chet while Shawn, Lee and Clementine went in as Shawn drove away from the horde

`0`

It was now night time dusk as the truck continued to drive in the road, out now in rural Georgia. So far, the coast seemed clear with no sign of walkers anywhere. Noah had to think back about what was going on in Atlanta. He wondered if anyone made it out alive or was it too late. He pinched the bridge of his nose, balling his fist as he pound it to the side of the trunk. Noah looked around and started seeing fields of corn, which meant they were now at Shawn's family farm. The truck came to a stop as Noah and Chet jumped out, with Lee and Clementine getting out after Shawn turned off the engine to the truck.

"Hey, Shawn... I'm a' run on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit." Chet said heading off

"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night." Shawn said back

"It was nice to meet ya three." Chet said with Lee and Clementine waving goodbye as they heard a door open, seeing an old man with a white beard

"Thank god, you're ok." the man which could mean that this man was Shawn's father said in relief

Shawn hugged his father. "I was worried it'd be bad here too."

"Been quiet as quiet the past couple of days. Ol' Breckon down the way thinks his mare's gone lame but that ain't nothing new."

"I wouldn't have make it back without Chet."

"Well, I'm glad you took him with you then." Shawn's father then glanced at Noah, Lee and Clementine. "You brought in a few guests."

"Your boy's a lifesaver." Lee stated to Shawn's father

"Glad he could be of some help." he looked down to see Clementine. "So it's just you and your daughter. Plus your friend here."

"Oh, not his daughter, he's... well... Just some guy who found her on her own."

Shawn's father crouched down staring at Clementine. "Honey, do you know who this man is?"

"Yes."

Shawn's father nod his head. "Ok, then." he glanced at Lee's limping leg. "Well, looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."

Lee sighed. "Yeah, it's not doing so good."

"I can help you out." the father glanced at his son. "Shawn, run on in and check on your sister." he looked at Lee. "You, take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have."

Noah started looking at his cell phone, seeing if he could at least get a signal. But unfortunately, there was no success whatsover. Everything was all fine today, until the living dead started walking on the earth as he threw his phone on the ground. So Shawn's father, Hershel allowed Noah along with Lee and Clementine to sleep in the barn tonight with the others.

"It smells like..."

"Manure? You know, shit?" Noah said, seeing Clementine stare at him with a sad look on her face and gasp. "What?"

"That was a swear."

"Oh, sorry." Noah apologized, forgetting that Clementine was a little girl. "Anyway, manure's when a horse you know, poops... and I should probably stop talking."

"I miss my mom and dad." she said sadly

"I bet, Clem." Lee said

"How far is Savannah?" Clementine asked

"It's pretty far." Lee replied

"Oh, okay."

Lee, Clementine and Noah went to sleep as they needed to be well-rested. Noah kept dreaming back to his days before the outbreak. How when he was an orphan on the streets, searching for food and shelter. How he end up being taken in by a shop keeper after he saved her from being ran over by a car name Tessa. He even remembered her being like a real mother to him. But now, he wondered if she was dead or still alive. Noah knew he couldn't think of false hopes as he closed his eyes, now heading to sleep.

"Hey, wake up." ordered a male southern voice that woke Noah and Lee up as they opened their eyes, seeing a man in his early forties wearing a trucker hat with a mustache

"I'm itchy." Clementine said already awake

"Well you slept in a barn, little lady. You're lucky you don't have spiders in your hair." the man in the trucker hat said with Clementine bug eyed looking up at her hair

"There's no spiders in your head, Clem." Noah ruffled her hat a bit before glancing at the man with the southern accent.

"But I bet your daddy scared 'em all away, huh?"

Lee turned to face the man. "I'm not her dad. Name's Lee."

"I'm Kenny."

a eight year old ran in the barn. "Dad! We're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!"

Kenny sighed. "We better get going or we won't hear the end of it." he said with Lee, Clementine and Noah following Kenny

"That's my kid. Ken Junior. We call him Duck though." he stated

Noah quirking his eyebrow. "Duck? Dodging or quacking?"

"Yea. Nothing bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know. Quacking mostly."

"That's a valuable trait lately." Lee said to Kenny

"No kidding." Kenny said. "But frankly, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammer."

"Dad!"

"But he makes up for it with enthuasiam." Lee remarked making their way Duck and Kenny's wife. "The word is you were on your way to Macon."

Lee smiled. "My family's from there."

"Well Macon's on the way and personally, I appreciate the company of a couple guys who can knock heads together if they have to."

"I'll see what the girl would like." Lee said

"Ah," Kenny looked at Clementine. "Gotta consult the missus. I understand. Honey, Duck, this is Lee and uh, what's your friend and the girl's name?"

"Noah. This is Clementine." Noah said to Kenny.

"That is a very pretty name." Kenny's wife said smiling. "My name is Katjaa by the way."

"Thanks." Clementine said, covering between Lee

Shawn walked toward them. "Well, we should get to work. We've seen what those things can do out there so the faster we get this fence up, the better."

"I wanna build a fence." Duck said

"Yeah?" Shawn looked at Duck. "Well, I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break."

"On the tractor? Cool!" Duck glee in excitement

"Duck and I will hop to it." Shawn said with him and Duck heading to the fence

"I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit." Katjaa said as Isaac went to help Shawn with the fence

"I'm gonna drive the tractor!" Duck said playfully touching the steer wheel. "I'm the foreman! Lift with your back, Shawn!"

"Need a hand, Shawn?" Noah asked

"That'd be great." Shawn pointed at the two-by fours laying on two supports, with a saw on top of it. "If you could cut those two-bys length, that speed things up."

Noah went toward the support, sawing down the two-bys to their lengths. "You alright, man?" he asked Shawn

"My dad doesn't know how bad it is."

"No, he doesn't."

Shawn now had a sad look on his face. "I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid. A boy. Just shot him right in the face."

"Was the kid one of the dead one?" he asked Shawn

Shawn sighed. "I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help. He didn't even hesistate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun right between the kid's eyes and pulled the trigger. You don't see things like that. It's not like in the movies."

"And they don't fall like you think either." Noah added

"Did you had to do it?"

"Do what?"

Shawn looked at Noah. "Kill. Have you had to off one yet?"

"I had to bash a girl's skull." Noah said. "She was my best friend's girlfriend. But she was one of the dead ones."

"I could shot one, if it were far maybe." Shawn replied. "I'm just glad we're getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there."

"How about yours?" Shawn asked. "How about your family?"

Noah sighed. "I never knew about my actual family truth be told. I was an orphan and I was raised by this woman that took me in. she's the only family I got, and I don't even if she's alive. I hope to god she is though."

"Oh man, I hope so too. Maybe it's not too bad there." Shawn said to Noah as he cut last of the remaining two-bys. "That's probaby all I need cut. Thanks."

"And Shawn," Noah said catching the attention of the farm boy. "Thanks again for the ride."

"No problem, Noah. Couldn't just leave you guys behind." Shawn said back. "Anyway, when you see my dad around, he might want some help in the barn."

Noah caught a glimpse of Lee and Hershel walking in the barn. "Alright then. Thanks for the info."

Noah head toward the barn to see if he could help Hershel around with anything. He remembered the small notebook he had in his pocket. Noah thought he could write down survival tips since the apocalypse was happening. Then suddenly, he started hearing screaming as he turned around and ran for the direction to where the screams came from. His eyes widened when he saw four walkers. Shawn's leg was caught in the tractor as he struggled to break loose from the hold. Two on the makeshift fence, the last two trying to grab Duck on the tractor. Lee and Noah went to save Shawn while Kenny went to save his son, with Noah hitting a couple of walkers on the head with a two-by before it broke off. Shawn pleaded Kenny to help Lee and Noah, but he just ran out saving his son instead. Lee went to pull Shawn off the tractor while Noah tried to move it out of Shawn's leg. Unfortunately the fence broke off as the walkers began to feed on Shawn, killing him in the process. Before Noah could react, one of the walkers were shot in the head by Hershel along the other. Noah crushed the last walkers head on the tractor, leaving its brain now on the ground as Hershel crouched down to his son.

"I'm okay Pop... I'm okay..." Shawn said losing amount of blood

"I can fix you. Don't worry, we'll stitch you up."

"It... it almost got me. Lee... Lee and Noah tried to save me."

Hershel glanced at both Lee and Noah. "I know, son. I know."

"I..." Shawn trailed off, now dead as he exhale his last breath

"Jesus." Noah said as Hershel slowly glanced at Kenny

"Get out." he said back in contempt anger. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Kenny looked down with a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry."

"SORRY?!" he yelled enraged

"Hershel..." Noah started with Hershel ignoring him

"Your son is alive. You don't get to be sorry." he glanced at Lee and Noah. "You two tried to help him, but this piece of shit let him to die."

"You can't blame Kenny." Lee said. "It's not his fault."

"The hell I can't!" Hershel shouted. "You watch your back. Wait until it's your daughter and you two need his help. Please, just go. Get out and never come back." Hershel declared with a breaking tone in his voice as he kneel down crying over the lost of his son

"You've got that ride to Macon if you want it." Kenny said to Lee as he nodded his head, with everyone heading out to the pickup truck leaving the farm

`0`

After a four hour drive, they finally reached Macon. However, the entire town turned out to be deserted. No signs of life anything, practically a ghost town. Cars left and half broken, and stores completely abandoned. Noah was writing up his survival tip in his small notebook, seeing the entire town completely abandoned and deserted.

"Rule 27: Abandoned and deserted towns are a bad sign. Be on the lookout for walkers." he said writing it down as the pickup suddenly came to a stop as everyone step out. "What happened?"

"Truck's run outta gas."Kenny said as they started walking through the street

"Look!" Duck pointed a figure in the distance, crouching down

"Hey there! You friendly? Truck's ran out of gas." Kenny shouted to the figure, with Noah's eyes slowly being wide

"Oh, shit." Noah swore as the figure turned out to be a walker. "Run!"

A walker suddenly pounced on Duck. "Aaah! No! No! Help!"

Then all of a sudden, the walker was shot in the head with Duck now covered in walker blood. Noah and Lee saw a medium-length brown haired woman wearing a white collared dress shirt with a black skirt along with stockings covering her legs. She looked to be some kind of reporter for a news station. There was also a Asian man with a cap on his head

"RUN!" he yelled as everyone went inside the drugstore, locking the entrance shut

"Thanks." Noah said

"No problem." the newswoman said out of breath

"We can't take risks like this!" said a shoulder lengthed brown haired woman in her mid twenties to early thirties glaring at the female reporter

"And we can't just let people die, either." the female reporter said shooting back a glare at the shoulder length haired woman

"When I SAY that door stays shut no matter what, I fucking meant it. We don't know who these people are. They could be dangerous!"

"Or worse, they could've leaded them right to us!" said a man in his late-fifties

the female reporter placed one hand on her hip glaring at the middle aged man. "Where the hell is your humanity? They would have out there!"

"We got kids with us, man." Noah stated, folding his arms while he glared at the middle aged man

"I see one little girl." he stated with Clementine pulling on Noah's shirt

"What is it, kid?" he whispered

"I... I have to pee." she said

"In a minute, Clem." he replied

"They got kids, Lily." said the asian man with a basball that had a S and W

"Those things outside don't care." Lily said back to the asain man with the cap

"Maybe you should go join 'em, then." Kenny spat out. "You'll have something in common!"

"God dammit, Lily! You have to control these people."

"Carley and Glenn just ran out there." she said giving her father a hard stare

"I don't give a flying fuck. We're in a warzone!"

"She's the leader here." Lee said to Kenny and Noah. "But it looks like she's losing control of her people."

Lily glared straight at Lee. "If you were in my shoes you'd be-"

"Holy shit. Son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!" the middle aged man said wide eyed seeing Duck covered in blood while Katjaa was wiping the blood of him with a wet towel

"He wasn't bitten." Lee stated

"Hell he wasn't!" the middle aged man headed for Duck. "We have to end this now."

Kenny stood in front of the middle aged man, shoving in a glare. "Over my dead body."

"We'll dug one hole."

"No! I'm cleaning him up! There's no bite! He's fine!" Katjaa pleaded

"Don't you fucking people get it?!" the middle aged man yelled. "We've already seen this happen. We let someone in with a bite stay and-and we all up bitten."

"Shut up." Kenny growled

"We got to throw him out! Or smash his face in!"

"Kenny! Stop him!"

Kenny kept his glare focused on Larry. "Guys, what do we do about this asshole?"

Lee folded his arms giving a frown at the man in his late-fifties. "It's either him or your son. I'd say it's him."

"I agree with Lee on this one." Noah agreed folding his arms. "Let's kick this old fuck out of this store."

"Goddamn right; out on his ass with those things." Kenny said in complete agree

"Everyone, CHILL THE FUCK OUT!" the reporter yelled, trying to detain the situitation

"Nobody is doing ANYTHING."

"Shut up, Lily!" the middle aged man glare at the female reporter. "And you, shut the fuck up! They will find us, they will get in and none of this won't fucking matter." he glared back at Kenny. "And now we're about to the trapped here with one of those things."

"The fuck you talking about, old man?" Noah said glaring at the middle aged man

"He's bitten! That's how you turn!"

"He's not bitten! Lee, stop this! It's upsetting him!" Katjaa replied

"Oh? It's upsetting him getting eaten alive?"

"For christ sake, man. This is his son!" Noah stated

"Look around, dumbass. I got a daughter in here." he pointed at Lee. "He's got a daughter in here. Get your head out of your ass, boy?"

Noah glared at the middle aged man name Larry. "What the fuck did you just say, old timer?"

Lee glared at Larry. "We've all got people in here and we can figure this out without killing anything. There's another way."

"Yeah, with a shovel."

"I'm gonna kill him, Kat. Just worry about Duck!"

"Lee?" Clementine called out

"Yeah?" he said staring at Clementine

"There's someone in there."

"It's probably locked. Key's are by the counter, maybe."

"I'm not the bad guy here! I'm just looking after my daughter!" Larry exclaimed

"No, you're just the outstanding citizen arguing to put down a kid." Noah muttered in sarcasm

"He's covered in muck." Larry snarled. "She'll find the bite. Watch!"

"She won't."

"And if she does, the first thing he's going to do is sink his teeth on his mom's face."

Noah folded his arms keeping a straight face. "Well, deal with it then. If there's a bite, we'll handle it."

"The hell I will! We're tossing him out now!"

All of a sudden, Noah started to get a bad feeling from something. Something that was overlooked. He heard Clementine mention someone was inside the restroom. And that's when everyone especially Noah heard a scream from Clementine as a walker tried to grab her. Lee and Noah ran to save Clementine as Noah bashed the walker's head toward a cabinet, with it pouncing on him. He grabbed its chin and jaw in order to prevent it from bitting him. Fortunately, Lee managed to grab the walker from behind as the reporter shot the walker in the head.

"You ok?" she asked Lee

"Just great, thanks." he replied as Noah stumped his foot on the dead walker's head, making sure it was still dead

Noah pulled out his notebook, writing down another survival tip. "Just like Rule 2: Beware of Bathrooms. Rule 28: Remain caution of walkers in abandonded places." he said hearing banging noise outside, leaving to believe the walkers heard the gunshot. "Everyone get down and stay quiet."

"They're going to get in!" Larry whispered

"SHUT. UP." Kenny whispered back as they heard more gunshots leading the walkers away from the drugstore

"Is that the military?" Lee inquired

"Whatever it is, it's keeping those walkers busy." Noah replied

Carley quirked her eyebrow at Noah. "Walkers?"

"That's what I call the dead now." he explained

Doug the camera man looked at Noah. "You mean the zombies, right?"

Noah glanced at him with a annoyed look on his face. "Don't say it."

"What?"

"That."

"What?"

"That. The Z word. Don't say it."

"Why not?"

"Because it's ridiculous."

"We almost die because of this bitch's ictchy trigger finger! That was stupid! That was-" Larry then suddenly collapsed with his hand on his chest.

"Dad!" Lily ran toward her downed father

"What the hell's wrong with him?" Noah demanded

"It's his heart!" Lily exclaimed

"My pills..." Larry trailed off weakly

"Nitroglycerin pills?" Katjaa inquired

"Yes. We're out. We've been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here!" Lily glanced at Lee with a sympathetic look on her face. "Please try to get in there."

"There's probably another entrance. Maybe through the office." Lee stated

Carley placed a hand on her hip, staring at Lee. "How do you know there's an office?"

"Educated guess." he shrugged

"It doesn't matter. We need nitroglycerin pills." Lily said looking at Lee and Noah. "Please get in there. I'll keep an eye on my dad."

Kenny decided to take command of the group. Doug was a lookout outside, while Carley was looking for a way to get the radio working. Katjaa finished wiping off the blood that covered Duck as Kenny needed Glenn to find gas, while Noah was browsing around anything to eat in the drugstore. A candy bar, chips, energy drink. Anything he could find. Fortunately, he stumbled upon seeing a energy bar by the counter but decided to give it to Clementine. After Lee helped Carley fix the radio once he found the batteries, reports were getting bad with the minute. No good news from Atlanta, the same going for Jonesboro as Noah rubbed his eyebrows in frustation. Everyone was being told to stay indoors and avoid contact with anyone exposed. During the remainder of the time, Lee and Clementine went inside to find anything. Noah then followed Carley to the office where they were as they step inside the office, with Noah ruffling Clementine's hair.

"Find anything?" Carley asked

"It's a photo of the family who owned this place." Lee stated. "Might help us track down where the keys to the office are."

"I know who you are." Noah glanced at Carley and Lee. "You're Lee Everett. You're a professor at Athens who killed a state senator who was sleeping with your wife." Noah and Clementine looked at Lee. "This is your parents' store; folks around town know the owner's son got into a life sentence, but I'm a reporter for WABE in Atlanta. I paid attention to that trail. Maybe you're a murderer. But I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that might come in handy."

"Hmph." Lee grunted with his arms folded

"Did you tell anyone out there who you were, that you were tied to this place?" Carley asked Lee

"No. I've been sticking with first names for a reason." he said looking away for a moment

Carley then showed a sympathetic look."You seem like an okay guy, and the last thing we need is drama out there. You got this little girl to take care of and look..." she paused narrowing her eyes. "Don't me wrong on this."

"I don't plan to."

"Good. Because of this last longer than a few days and you're a detriment to the group, then we'd have a problem."

"I hear you."

"I'll just keep it to myself."

"Thanks." Lee said trusting Carley about his past

Carley looked away, hiding a small blush. "Don't mention it."

"I'll keep your secret to myself then." Noah said with Lee and Carley glancing at him

"Noah-" Noah cut him off by motioning his hand

"Save it." he said. "You could've kill me if you wanted to, but you didn't. Besides, you don't look like the homicidal killer type to begin with... for a U.S. history teacher."

"Uh, thanks... I guess."

"Don't mention it, Lee." Noah said now preparing to leave the office. "One other thing. We got a hold of Glenn. He's got enough gas for us, but he's trapped at a motor-inn hotel when he saw a chance to get some supplies. Kenny wants you go help him out and take someone with you."

"I'll go with him." Carley glanced at Lee. "You might need someone watching your back."

"Appreciate it." he said to Carley as he looked at Clementine. "Clem, Carley and I are going to get Glenn. Can you stay with Noah?"

Clementine nodded her head. "Okay." Lee was about to leave when... "Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not bad right? That lady said you killed someone. Was that because he was one of things trying to eat you?"

Lee showed a saddened look. "No, he wasn't."

"Oh. Was he bad?" Clementine asked as Noah and Carley glanced at Lee

"Yes, he was." Lee answered back as him and Carley left out back

"Noah. Get over here." Kenny yelled as him and Clementine step out of the office, with Noah heading toward Kenny. "I need you to help Doug on the lookout. Your turn to fill in for him."

"Alright." Noah walked toward Doug. "What's going on out there, Doug?"

"Nothing. I can't see anything. Want to step outside and take a look?"

Noah nodded his head. "As long as that gate's closed, yeah. We need to know what the hell is going on outside."

Noah and Doug step outside, leaving the door slowly closed in order to not make any noise. Once they step outside, there were walkers scurrying around like parasites during the night out. Some were moving while other walkers were feeding on anything in their path. They were seeing hell itself right in front of him, with Doug trying to hold his vomit.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"These fuckers are just... eating." Noah said in shock

"I think it might be couple of days before all of this is sorted out."

"I somehow doubt it." Noah replied. "Anyway, we need to keep it down. We don't want them to know we're here. Any idea where those pharmacy keys might be?"

"We searched everywhere for them before you guys came. They weren't on the dead old couple we threw out either."

"If the keys aren't in the drugstore, think they could be out..." Noah paused when he noticed a walker in pharmacist clothes trapped by a downed pole. "Here. I think they're on that walker over there." he stated pointing at the walker pharmacist to let Doug know where the location of the walker was. "But no chance in hell getting past those walkers." Noah also spotted a electronics store. "That store over there has TVs and electronics. Maybe we could use that to our advantage. Use this remote and get their attention by turning on those TVs."

"Good thing you batteries then." Doug joked as he use the remote to turn on the TVs, while he throw a brick toward the store window. As expected, the walkers started making way toward the TVs. "They're distracted. Go." he said as Noah quickly walked by toward the trapped pharmacist walker, noticing a tag that said Bradley Everett

"Shit. This is Lee's brother." he said crouching down as he pulled out his knife. "Probably got caught when the outbreak came here to Macon."

"You got them yet?!" Doug whispered loudly to Noah

"Give me a second, man." he whispered back while he looked at the pharmacist walker who turned out to be Lee's brother. "I better get back to it, then." Noah then lunged his survivalist knife inside the walker's eye, digging it deeper as the blade impacted on the brain. He stabbed it twice in the forehead, just in case it wasn't dead yet as blood spilled out leaving a piece of brain on the blade. "Brain's dead." he picked up the keys from its pocket, while wiping the knife on the walker's clothes as he quickly ran back to the gate as Doug closed. "Got it. Now let's get inside."

As they were inside, they saw that Lee, Carley and Glenn made it back. Lily was still keeping an eye on her father, Larry while Kenny was with Katjaa and Duck. Lee and Carley made their way to Noah and Doug.

"We get the keys." Doug stated. "We can get in the pharmacy now."

"Alright then." Noah gave Lee the keys as he went toward Lily, while the two of them heading for the pharmacy with Kenny making his way toward them

"We got enough fuel. How's things on your end?"

"Doug and me find the keys. Hopefully, Lee and Lily can get medical supplies along the way. And we can leave here without those walkers ever-" Noah was cut off when unfornately, a alarm bell ran. "Noticing. Shit, that's going to lead walkers here! Everyone get ready to go!"

Carley was loading her gun while Kenny to go get his pickup, with Lee giving him an ax. Katjaa and Duck went in the office to barricade it. Glenn, Carley and Doug were covering the door, barricading so walkers wouldn't get through. Glenn went to help Katjaa while Lee and Noah helped Carley and Doug barricade the door as more walkers kept barging in.

"Hey, Noah... Lee... if we don't know make it through this, you should know that I think your great guys."

"Shut up, Doug." Noah said. "We're gonna made it through this!"

"Doug, if we don't make it you should-" Carley was cut off when a walker was barging through, only for Lee and Carley to slam the door on it

"I should what?"

"Huh?!"

"You said I should-" a couple of walkers broke through the window as Carley shot two of them in the head.

"Clementine, could you find something to stick-in between the handles? Something strong?"

"Ok!" she said looking around anything that would hold the door

"God damn it!" Noah swore blocking the door from walkers. "Clem, you find anything yet?!"

"Nothing! Oh wait!" Clementine went left as she found something nearby

"That window's screwed!" Doug yelled

"Go! We'll hold the door!" Lee said as him and Noah barricade the door while Doug went to cover the window left of them. That's when Clementine ran toward Lee and Noah with a cane in her hands

"I found something!"

"Thanks, Clem!" Noah exclaimed as he used the cane to block the handles, leaving the door covered

"NO! AAAH! Get off! Get it off of me!" Doug yelled with two walkers

"SHIT! I'm out!" Carley yelled as a walker had its hand on her leg. "Lee! Help! Ammo in my purse!"

"Lee, go help Carley! I got Doug!" Noah shouted as he ran toward him, stabbing the heads of the walkers trapping him while Carley shot another walker along with the one that grabbed her leg. "Everyone, move it out! We're getting the fuck out of here!" he yelled as him and Doug ran through the office and out the back. Carley made it out also, but Lee and Clementine didn't until Larry ran off grabbing Clementine. "Where's Lee?"

"Leave him!"

"Fuck that! Come on, Noah!" Kenny and Noah make their way back to the drugstore as Kenny lunged the ax at a walker crawling toward Lee, with Noah pulling him up off the ground. "I'm not letting someone else get eaten today. Especially a good friend." Kenny and Lee ran out with Noah slamming the door closed shut

`0`

The group were now at the Travelier motor-inn hotel, with Lily, Doug and Noah throwing walker bodies on the pile of dead ones. Doug spewed some gasoline on the corpse as they lit them on fire, ready to incenerate the corpses. Glenn left a few minutes ago, heading toward his friends trapped in Atlanta. Kenny was with Katjaa while Larry was all of a sudden talking to Lee. Clementine was leaning on the RV as Duck was talking with her. Doug went off to talk with Carley as Noah pulled his notebook off his pocket, staring at his survival tips before he set it back in his pocket. And at that moment, Noah knew this was only just the beginning.


	2. Starved to Help

Chapter 2: Starved for help

Three months later...

Noah and Kenny were searching for food, while Lee and Mark split up to do the same. After they found Mark in a overrun air force base and saved, along with getting three months of food to last them. But unfornately, that food ran a couple of days ago. Noah and Kenny weren't having some much luck with finding food as they stumbled upon a walker eating the corpse of a deer, leaving Noah to stab his knife at the back of its head. The deer was torn apart, it's guts spreaded out on the ground with dripping blood.

"God damn it!" Kenny swore kicking the walker's corpse. "We were so fuckin' close."

"I feel you, man." Noah agreed, nodding his head as they searched ahead. "This sucks doney balls already. I can't believe we ate all that food from the air force base."

"You and me both, kid." Kenny replied. "And to be honest, I don't know what the hell we're going to do. I'm wondering if we have any food left back at the motor-inn."

"Me too." Noah sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I kept hearing Doug mentioned his favorite dessert causing to be hungry and I felt Carley was about to kill Mark when he accidently grab her share of the food."

"Yeah, well, I blame Lily for this shit." Kenny groused

"We can't do nothing about it anyway. We're too damn hungry to even better." Noah scoffed glancing left and right. "Hopefully, we'll find something to-" Noah was cut off when he heard a scream

Noah looking at the direction of where the scream was coming from. "Where the fuck did that come from?" Kenny asked

"I have no idea. Let's go find where it's coming from. Come on!"

Noah and Kenny as fast as they could to the direction of the scream, hearing it again as they were closer. They found Lee and Mark standing over a man with his foot caught in a bear trap, but he wasn't alone. There were also two high school students, one with brown hair and another with dark hair wearing lettermen jackets.

"Lee! You guys okay?" Kenny and Noah turned to face the two high schoolers

"Get it off! Get it off! God dammit, get it off of me!" the man with the trapped foot panicked

"Travis, maybe that can help!"

the one named Travis looked bug eyed in fear. "These might be the same guys that raided our camp! And we got away from that!"

"Who raided your camp?" Lee asked the two high eighteen year olds

"Guys with guns! I don't know!"

"Please! We won't bother you I swear!"

"Lee, this is fucked up. We got help 'em."

"Maybe they could help."

Travis glared at his friend. "Shut up, Ben! My father was Special Forces, I know what I'm doing."

"Just see if you can get him out! After that you could leave us or whatever!" Ben said, pleading as walkers started to appear

"Mark, cover these boys!" Lee ordered standing in front of the bear trapped man. "Kenny, Noah keep those walkers off of me!"

Noah brought out a K-BAR knife he took from the air force base when they found Mark along with his survivalist knife, stabbing the first walker in the head to come near them while Mark and Kenny were shooting off incoming walkers. He kicked the next walker coming toward him, impaling his knives on its eyes killing it. There were more walkers coming closer and closer, leaving Noah to pull out his pistol as he shot two walkers in the head. He shot four more walkers along the way, then stabbing one in the head as Noah slammed it down on the ground. Noah suddenly heard screaming as he saw Lee was cutting the man's leg off in order to free. He shot more walkers in the head in precise accurany as he went for his pocket, bringing out a pistol magazine as he ejected the empty one from the load of his gun. Noah quickly glanced back to see Lee had manage to chop out the man's leg, freeing him from the bear trap as blood began gushing out.

"If he's alive, grab him and let's go!" Kenny said as him and Mark carrying the teacher on his shoulders ran

"Behind you!" Lee shouted as Travis was behind them

"Son of a bitch!" Noah swore kicking the walker behind Travis as Noah grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Special Forces, my ass! You are an amateur, a fucking amateur! Now, run. Run!" he yelled, with him and Travis running toward the others as they fled from the walkers

`0`

Lee and the others made it back to the motor-inn as Noah opened the gate, leaving Kenny, Mark carrying the teacher along with Lee, Ben and Travis in. Mark laid the unconscious teacher on the back of the truck, with Kenny letting Katjaa to check up on him. Noah closed the gate behind him as Clementine hugged him, ruffling her hair a little with a smile on his face. Unfornately that smile faded as he saw Lily having a pissed off look on her face.

"What the hell?! You can't just be bringing in new people here! What are you thinking?"

Kenny jumped in. "You wanna calm down for a fucking minute!"

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Larry glared pointing at Kenny

"No, I don't!" Lily snarled at Kenny, now glaring at Lee and Noah. "I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed here was a good idea?!"

"He would've died if we left him there." Noah growled

"So what?" Larry shrugged

"We are NOT responsible for every struggling survivor we come across! We have to focus on our group!" she raised a finger in the air. "Right here. Right now."

"Well, hang on!" everyone turned to look at Carley. "We haven't even talked to these people yet! Maybe they can be helpful."

"Carley's right. These guys could be a big help." Doug said agreeing with Carley. "We could a couple of hands here. They might be useful."

"Come on Lily, these are people! People trying to survive just like us. We got to stick together if we're going to survive." Mark stated

Lily looked at Mark with a stare. "The only reason you're here is because you had food. Food to last all of us. But that food is almost gone, we've got maybe a week's worth life." she glared at Ben and Travis. "And I don't suppose you two aren't carrying groceries, are you?!"

"No." Ben said deadpanned with Travis shaking his head in a no

Mark sighed. "Fine. You guys fight it out, then." he glanced at Ben and Travis leaving the scene. "Welcome to the family, boys."

"Come over here and see what I drew." Clementine said pulling Ben away from the confrontation

"What? No, I-" Travis cut Ben off

"Come on, Ben." he said with him and Ben following Clementine

Kenny walked up to Lily with a glare on his face. "You know, you like to think you're the leader of this little group but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn't your own personal dictatorship!"

Noah sighed loudly with an annoyed look. "Christ, you two are being fucking dramatic again!" Kenny and Lily glared at him. "I'm serious! It's always has to be a goddamn power struggle with the two of you and I don't want anything to do with this shit. Both of you are on your own."

"Yeah, we're with Noah on this." Carley said as her and Doug left Kenny and Lily to have their confrontation. She tapped Noah's shoulder, with him looking over his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just annoyed with those two." Noah sat on a bench watching Clementine and Duck to draw, getting a glance at Larry and Mark working on the fence. "I feel like I'd rather be in charge."

"You know they'll keep going at each other throats as always." Doug hinted Noah with as he stared at Lee giving Mark one of the rations. "Huh. Looks like Lee's giving out the rations today. Do you guys know what Larry's problem with Lee?"

Noah looked away, staring at the picture of him and his adopted mother. He glanced at Mark and Larry working on the wall after he put the photo back in his pocket. "I don't know. Maybe he's just some old racist asshole. Maybe he's paranoid or something." Carley glanced at him as she saw Lee make his way toward them. "I'm gonna go rest my eyes for a bit. If anyone needs me, I'll be laying on the couch." Noah got up and laid on the couch, resting his eyes. A shadow suddenly stood in front of his face as he opened one eye to see it was Clementine. "S'up, Clem?"

"Have you seen my hat?" she asked as Noah noticed she didn't have her hat lately

"Come to think of it, I haven't." he got up from the couch. "But if me or Lee find it, we'll give it back to you."

Clementine smiled. "Thanks, Noah." Clementine went back to draw while Noah walked toward Larry and Mark

"You need to talk to Lily about getting along with Kenny." he said to Larry

"Lily can make her own friends." Larry hissed in his usual growling tone

Noah furrowed his eyebrows. "This ain't about making friends, asshole. It's about surviving together."

"Eh, stuff all that. We'd be fine without you."

Noah folded his arms. "So, you're agreeing to throw the people we brought in out on their asses?"

"Damn right. That's too many people hanging around here as it is."

Noah walked away in disgust. "One day that old man's going to get his ass killed by a heart attack." he muttered

"Ken! Noah! Lee! Come here, please." Katjaa shouted

"He didn't make it, did he?" Kenny said

"He lost too much blood." she stated sadly

"God dammit!" Kenny swore walking away as he throw the lead pipe on the ground. "I'm getting sick of this shit."

"Ken. Come bac-" Noah cut her off

"Let him go, Katjaa."

"But..."

"Noah's right. He just needs time." Lee said

"That man you brought..." Katjaa looked away. "I tried, but he was never going to survive."

"At least he's not our problem anymore." Lee said as Katjaa glanced at Ben and Travis

"What about those two?" she asked

Before she could say anything, the teacher was turned to a walker as it grabbed Katjaa from behind. Lee and Noah were pulling the walker off of her, with Noah getting Katjaa to safety but Lee was caught back it. Noah ran to go get his K-BAR as he saw Mark trying to kill it with the axe, but failed as it hit back window of the truck. Lee crawled back with the walker trying to feed off him, only for Carley to shoot it in the head as the walker was now dead.

Carley crouched down toward Lee. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Lee answered thanking Carley as Noah went to check for a bite mark, but what surprised was there wasn't any whatsoever

"What the hell..." Noah trailed off, widened eyes filled with shock

"Why'd ya let him in here the first place, asshole!" Larry yelled blaming Lee for he incident

"Larry, shut it!" Noah shouted standing up

"You're gonna get us all killed!" Larry growled walking away as Ben and Travis made their way toward the group

Kenny glared at the two high school kids and walked toward them. "Why didn't you two tell us he was bitten?!"

"What?" Ben said confused

"He was bitten and you didn't say a goddamn word!"

"He's wasn't bitten. We're telling the truth!" Travis exclaimed

"They're right, Kenny. There's no bite mark on this walker." Noah stated

"Well, their unbitten friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!" Kenny replied angrily

"What are you..." Travis paused and stared at the group. "You all don't know, do you?"

Kenny had a agitated look on his face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Travis and Ben looked at the group as Ben was the first to speak. "It's not the bite that does it. You come back no matter how you die."

"If you don't destroy the brain, that's what'll happen. It's gonna happen to all of us." Travis stated

Lee eyes went wide along with everyone else. "We're all infected? All of us?"

"We think so." Travis replied

"One of the cheerleaders, Jenny Pitcher took a turn for the worse and killed herself taking a lot of pills."

Travis step in looking down. "When someone heard screaming and went in the girls locker room in the morning... God. It was... it was a fucking bloodbath."

"Back off!" everyone looked at Carley pointing her gun at a couple of men, brothers maybe

One of them spoke up. "Whoa, lady, relax! Me and my brother, we were just wonderin' if you could help us out."

"I said back off!" Carley kept her gun pointed at them with Lily making her way toward her

"Carley..." she trailed off, lowering Carley's gun down

"We don't want any trouble." Lee stated

"Of course. Neither do we. I'm Andy St. John." said person pointed his thumb at his brother. "This is my brother. We're just out looking for gasoline. Looks like you folks got the motel locked down, which is fine. But if you could spare some gas, we'd be much obliged."

"Why do you need gas?" Noah folded his arms giving the two a hard stare

Dan spoke out. "Our place is protected by an electric fence. Generators provide the electricity... so our generator run on gas."

"Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road. If ya'll be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade." Andy suggested

"How are ya'll on food?" Dan asked. "We got plenty at the dairy."

Lily side glanced at Lee. "Lee, why don't you and Mark go with them to see if the place is legit?"

Carley put her gun in the pocket of her purple overcoated vest. "I'm going with you. I got your back if anything seems fishy."

"I'm going to." Noah said taking his pistol and two knives, grabbing his white jacket

"So what are ya'll thinking?" Andy said, wondering what their decision was

"We got a deal." Noah answered

"We'll bring some gas to your dairy. In exchange, you give us some food to bring back." Lee stated. "We'll see how it goes from there."

`0`

Lee, Carley, Noah and Mark along with Ben and Travis followed Andy and his brother to their family's farm. Noah looked to see Mark talking with Andy and Dan, while moved back toward Lee and Carley's conversation. She was asking did anyone else besides her know about his past, unfornately Larry knew about it. It was bad enough that Larry was a pompous ass, but knowing Lee was a convicted killer was going to be a pain in his ass. Clementine already knew when she and Noah heard Lee and Carley back at the drugstore.

"So why don't you tell us about yourself, Lee?" Andy asked glancing at him while leading the group to the farm. "Where ya from?"

"I moved around a lot. But before then, I was from Macon."

"Right here in the heart of Georgia." Andy smiled still walking

"I use to move around myself. But the dairy will always be home." Dan said

"Ya'll seem pretty settled in that motor-inn. Who's runnin' the show?"

"I am." Noah said jokingly, leaving Carley and Lee to show off a amusing and humorous look on their face. "What? I'm pretty much am the leader of the group."

Lee glanced at Andy. "He's kidding. We work as a group, all of us looking out for each other."

"I hear that! There are so many dumbasses out there fighting each other these days..." Andy glanced at Lee. "It's just stupid."

"We got enough people to defend ourselves." Noah added

"Well that's good. It's getting dangerous out there, well, you guys know." Andy said. "We'd love to get ya all out on the dairy. Like I said, we've got plently of food, and quite frankly, we could always use a extra helping hand."

`0`

After a close call with a couple of bandits, leaving one to kill the other as the group made it to the St. John dairy farm. The place was untouchable it seemed, it can make anyone figure the apocalypse was happening. Lee and the others were introduced to Andy and Dan's mother, Brenda who welcomed peacefully. She even gave them home-made biscuits, which they took graciously before Carley went back to the motor-inn with Ben and Travis following. Lee, Noah and Mark stayed behind to help around the perimeter. To move off any walkers stuck on the fence or knocking over a post. For that moment, everything seemed well, until the fence turned on along with Mark being shot in the shoulder by an arrow. They used a tractor for cover from the arrows, managing to make their way back to the dairy. Andy noticed a arrow on Mark's shoulder, eyes wide.

"Lee, what happen?"

"It was a goddamn ambush out there!" Noah said in a freaked out tone. "Damn bandits tried to get the jump on us!" Noah pulled off the arrow on Mark's shoulder

"Bandits!? Here?! On our property?!" Noah noticed the group arrived except Carley, Doug, Ben and Travis

"Hey ya'll!"

"Mark! Oh my god, what happened?!" Katjaa said in shock

"Mark was shot by a arrow." Noah explained while applying disinfectant on his shoulder wound

"Christ! Are you going to be okay?" Lily asked in a somewhat worried tone

"Yeah, I'm fine. Noah pulled it out for me."

"C'mon, inside now honey. We'll have you all sort out."

"What kind of shit is this?" Larry said in a not angered, but worried which surprised Noah

"We ran into some bandits."

"They gave us a lot of problems in the beginning. Killed a bunch of our farmhands. We were able to get them to stop by makin' a deal." Andy explained, with Kenny narrowing his eyes at him

Kenny frowned at the St. John brothers. "You KNEW about these people?"

"Food for protection. They didn't hassle us after that."

"Goddammit! Carley said this place was locked down tight!" Larry exclaimed

"It was just a fluke. We can't keep assuming there's bad people out there." Noah stated folding his arms

Lily glared at Noah. "What the hell do you mean a fluke?"

Noah scoffed. "You know what I mean." he snarled with an annoyed look. "It could've happen anywhere. It could have happened to us back in the motor-inn."

"Listen we may have had an arrangement with those people, but we will not stand for this."

"Ain't no way we gonna let those sons of bitches get away with this!"

Kenny glanced the St. John brothers. "You know where these assholes are?"

"I know where at least ONE of their camps are." Dan glanced at Lee. "When you're ready to scoop out that bandit camp, let me know."

Lily place a hand on her hip. "Bandits? Are you serious? This place isn't safe, we can't stay here."

"Not safe?!" Kenny glared at Lily. "This place is a helluva lot safer than motor-inn. I think all of us and our guns can handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows!" he glanced at Lee and Noah. "What we need to do is find a way to get our whole group out here to stay. Take this place over if we have to."

"Cool your jets there, Rambo. These are nice people." Larry stated. "Let's not get ourselves thrown out before we eat."

"I'm gonna help Dan deal with these bandits." Lee said. "You guys should try to make friends with Andy and Brenda while I'm gone."

Larry shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's easy. I got charm coming out of my ass."

"For fuck's sake man..." Noah moved away, taking a nap on a bench near the barnhouse as he laid back. "Now, to laid down and relax."

So far, Noah couldn't have a pleasant nap on the bench. Mainly between Kenny and Lily arguing again as always. Kenny wanted to look around, feeling that the St. John's were hiding something. Lily on the other hand didn't want to cause any trouble, especially since Kenny was making this worse for her. Luckily, Lee and Dan came back to the diary but Noah noticed he had a doubting look on his face as he walked toward him.

"Lee, you found them?"

"Only one." Lee stated, staring at Lily as Kenny was now heading inside the barn. "What's going on with Lily and Kenny?"

"I have not fucking idea, man." Noah replied. "Kenny says these people are hiding something. Lily just wants to go the hell out of here. You got to talk with both of them on that."

"I'll see what I can do."

After what Kenny told him and Lee, Noah started to get a terrible vibe. When he was in the barn, he noticed a blood stain a locked door. Which was weird on his part since this was a dairy farm, instead of a ranch farm. Once the dinner bell rung, everyone except Lee and Noah used the multi-tool to loosen the screws on the door. Leaving the door wide open, Noah and Lee had shocked looks on their faces. Inside was a slaughter room, with blood spilled and laying a bath along with a saw and other tools like a sickle and a double hook. Noah left before Andy showed by. He went inside the house, throwing up on the toilet. He didn't know what the hell he saw, but it somehow made him sick.

"Hey, you alright?" Noah looked back and saw it was Lily. "Noah."

"I'm... I'm fine. I'm just shaken."

Brenda setted up dinner as everyone including Lee and Noah, who decided to wash up before eating. But before either of them could, Noah spotted a cord going up the stairs as he followed where the trail laid. Once upstairs, Lee searched the closet as he spotted morphine, musty towels and medical waste laying around. He also spotted a the end of the cord and a plug, placing both of them in while Noah checked the room Mark was suppose to be resting at. But there was no sign of Mark, with Noah seeing a blood stain on the floor. He noticed a light shining below that bookcase he and Lee moved it out of the way, with Noah slowly opening the door. As soon as it was opened, Lee and Noah's eyes were wide with shock. They see Mark lying in a floor of his own blood, with no legs.

"Lee... Noah... help me."

"Jesus christ! Mark, what the fuck happened to your legs?"

"Brothers..." he said weakly after losing a amount of blood. "Don't... eat... dinner..."

Noah and Lee moved down and rushed down the steps, quickly making their way to the dining room. Their eyes widened when they saw everyone including Clementine was about to eat a piece of Mark's legs.

"DON'T EAT THAT!" Lee yelled, causing everyone to be startled

"Lee, you and Noah alright man?"

Larry grunted. "Seat your asses down, you idiots. This lady's here made you a meal."

Lily quirked her eyebrows at Noah and Lee. "What's gotten into you two?"

"Mark is upstairs with his fucking legs cut off! For Christ's sake, you're eating him!" Noah shouted, shocking everyone except Dan who kept eating human meat.

"We need to get the kids, everyone out of here. We need to go. NOW." Lee declared

"Everything coulda turned out better for you folks." Dan said taking a bite of Mark's leg

"He woulda died anyway! We gotta think about livin'!" Andy exclaimed, trying to make an excuse

Noah glared pointing at Andy. "He was shot in the shoulder with an arrow! He would've lived from that!"

"Settle down, honey." Brenda said with a stern look. "Growing up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It was how I was raised and how I raised my boys." everyone's expressions were shocked. "Now, you've got monster roaming around doing nothing eating people up. And for what? To continue rotting and eat some more. And it's true, we go after folks who were gonna die anyway. One way or another."

Dan took a final bite and glanced at the group. "Like ya'll."

"Just let us go." Lee pleaded

"Kenny, grab your gun!" Noah yelled out. "Lily, get a knife. Quick!"

Before Kenny could get his gun and Lily could strike with a steak knife, Andy held everyone at gunpoint along with Dan. Kenny and Lily were shouting them, telling them to let go of everyone. That's when Andy grabbed Clementine by her hair.

"Let her go, you fucker!" Noah shouted with Dan keeping the gun on him and Lee, only to hear rumbling sounds from the stairs as Noah and Lee's eyes were wide seeing who it was

"Please..." that voice was Mark. "Someone...!" he crawled with his bloodied legs laying on the floor as the group's eyes went wide with shock and horror

"Clementi-" Noah and Lee were cut off when Dan hit their heads with the butt of his rifle

Noah could hear yelling and banging, with his eyes slowly opening up as he was trapped in a room with Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Lily and Larry. Judging by the coldness he was feeling right now, they were locked in a meat room. There was no sign of Katjaa and Duck which meant they could be held up in the St. John farmhouse. Noah got up and looking at his surroundings, seeing if there was a way out of the room as he stood up. He looked over by the pallets, seeing there was no passage way. That's when he spotted the AC conditioner, feeling there could be a way out glancing at Larry.

"You got a coin, Larry?"

"What for?" he growled glaring at Noah

"I may have found a way out of-"

"Your mess?" Larry glared at Lee. "And his?!"

"What do you mean our mess?"

"We were all fine until you and that asshole mention we were eating human meat! It's all your fault!"

"Fuck you, you old pain in the ass!" he pointed at Larry with an angry look on his face. "None of this was my fault. Neither is it Lee's. Now give me a goddamn coin so we can get the fuck out of here!"

Larry sighed angrily as he threw a quarter his direction, with Noah catching it. "Take it. With all the good that'll do."

Noah unscrewed the first screw on top, going on left to loosen it up along with the other two as he made his way to the final one. After getting the last screw as it hit the floor, Noah, Lee and Kenny moved the AC away from them. But it was too small for any of them, except for one as Noah glanced at Clementine.

"Clementine, think you could fit in there?"

"I think so." she guessed as Lee lifted her up, with Clementine crawling through even with Larry banging on the door

"Open this goddamn door...!"

"Dad stop..."

"Aarggh!" Larry had his hand on his chest. "Oh god... hrrgggkkk..." he fell on the floor, collapsed as Lily crouched down with a worried look on her face-to-face

"Dad?! DAD!" she yelled as Clementine opened the door

"What did you see, Clem?" Noah asked

"There's a man outside." she glanced down at Larry bug eyed. "What happened?"

Noah glanced at the downed Larry as he placed two fingers on Larry's neck, checking his pulse. He shook his head, feeling no pulse on Larry at all as it was already too late. "He's dead."

"He's not dead." Lily said giving him CPR as Lee crouched down checking his pulse as well, giving Kenny a indication that he's dead and would possibly come back as a walker

"If he's dead..."

"He's not DEAD!"

"Lee, you and Noah saw what happened to that poor bastard back on the motor-inn. How fast he turned. And in a few minutes, we're going to have a 6'4 300 pound seriously pissed off dead guy!"

"Fuck you, he's not dead. Lee!"

"Lily, me and Noah checked his pulse." Lee looked down while Kenny grabbed a sickle from the blood covered table. "He's dead, and it's only a matter of time until he'll come back to kill us. I'm sorry."

"We'll lock the door and leave him here when he turns. If he didn't turn, he's good. But if he does turn..." Noah glanced at Clementine as he grabbed a cattle prod, while Lee took a double hook as a weapon after Kenny locked the door. "Clem, we need you to be there for Lily. We're going to deal with that guy waiting outside."

"Okay."

Lee, Noah and Kenny moved quietly to avoid detection from Andy or Dan as Lee went up first, along with Kenny and Noah. They hid to the first stable near them as Andy told Dan to be on the lookout keeping an eye on things, with Lee taking a peek seeing Dan was nowhere to be seen. Noah decided to take a look as he saw a barrel pointing at him, pointing it away as he struck Dan with the cattle prod along with a kick to the groin. Kenny stabbed Dan in the back with a sickle as he ran on ahead to save Duck and Katjaa, while Lee stabbed Dan's shoulder with the double hook as Noah motioned Lee to go ahead to help Kenny. Noah pushed Dan down a hay stack, landing his foot on a bear trap as it snapped catching his foot. He then heard sobbing as he turned around, seeing it was Lily with Clementine covering behind him. His eyes widened to see Larry was now turned into a walker, with Noah grabbing Lily's waist as him and Clementine carrying the sniper rifle as they closed the barn door behind them. They could hear Dan's screams being yelled out as he was being devoured by the dead Larry as Noah quickly open as he shot both of them in the head. They suddenly saw Andy trying to kill Lee with Lee taking the rifle, shooting Andy's shoulder in the process while Lee started landing blows across his face. That's when they noticed Carley and Doug came with Ben and Travis, leaving Katjaa to give them their stuff.

"It's over!"

Andy slowly stood up, with bruised cheeks and swollen black eyes. "Fuck you. As soon as Dan and Mama get here, you're all fucked!"

"They're both dead." Noah shouted to Andy

Andy St. John's swollen eyes were wide with shock. "What the fuck do you mean? What the fuck did you do?!" he yelled as Lee walked back to the group. "LEEEE! Get back here and finish this, Lee!"

"Let's go." Lee said as everyone left the diary farm with the walkers coming in after the generator shut down

`0`

"Hey Lee," Lee glanced over his shoulder to see Carley. "I'd say I'm sorry for leaving the motel unattended, but ya know."

"I'm glad you showed up when you did. If you hadn't taken that shot at Andy, we might not have gotten out of there."

"Were they really killing people... for food?"

"Yeah. And Clementine almost ate some."

"But...?"

"She didn't." Carley and Lee glanced at Noah. "I gotta tell you guys, this is a fucked up world we live in now. I can't even believe Clementine is stuck in it herself. It's just hiding unspeakable shit now." he said, seeing Lee walk over to Kenny for a second. "I'll be right back."

"There's gonna be fallout." Kenny stated, looking at Lee and Noah

"For leaving Lily's dad? I can imagine so."

"What do you two think?"

"She'll get over it."

"Hopefully, she does. Besides," Noah give a quick glance at Lily. "She needs to. There was nothing we could've done to save Larry. I told that asshole he was gonna get himself killed having a heart attack like that."

"Hell, someone needs to fill in if she ain't up for it." Kenny replied with the three of them heading back to the group

"Noah," he turned to see Clementine walking beside him. "Are those bad people gone?"

"Yeah, walkers probably got them. Karma give them what they deserve."

Clementine quirked her eyebrow confused. "Karma?"

"Yes, Karma. You see when someone's a good person, good things tend to happen sometimes. If someone's a bad person, bad things will happen. Even worse maybe." he explained to Clementine

"Oh, okay."

"Dad? What's that sound?" Duck asked his father

"That sounds like a car."

"More strangers, maybe?" Travis glanced at the group

Kenny and Lee went first to make sure it was safe to move toward the car. They slowly approached the station wagon, only to find it was deserted with no one inside. But what that noticed inside was food, water and supplies in the back trunk.

"It's a shitload of food and supplies back here!"

"Look at all of this." Noah grinned with luck being on the group's side

"This food could save all of us."

"Not all of us." Lily groused, looking away with Kenny sighed grumbling

"Look, we don't know if these people are dead."

"They probably are. We don't know if they're still alive." Travis said to Ben. "I say we take this. We need it more than they do if their dead. I mean what kind of a dumbass leaves the keys in the ignition along with stuff you need to survive."

"If they come back, we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruining their lives." Lily stated

"This stuff isn't ours."

"Dad, who's car is it?"

"Don't worry about that Duck, it's our now."

"It's abandoned, Ducky. Don't worry."

"But what of it's not?" everyone glanced at Clementine. "What if it's not abandoned? What if it is someone's?"

Lee crouched down toward Clementine. "We have to take this, Clementine. We need it to survive."

"Sorry, kiddo. I don't think it's not about right and wrong anymore, only survival." Noah stated sadly to Clementine as he nodded her head in understanding, while gave everyone food and supplies when Noah noticed a hoodie about Clementine's size. "Here, you should take this hoodie. It's cold out here, Clem."

"But it's not mine."

"Hold on to for safe-keeping if the people of this station wagon find us, okay?"

"Okay." Noah ruffled her hair a little bit

Noah took out his notebook writing down another rule once again. "Rule 57: Stay away from cannibals." he glanced at the ransacked station wagon. "Messed up in Rule 41: Never leave food and supplies to an abandoned car." Noah looked to see the group far behind him. "Hey, wait up!" he yelled rushing toward them as they headed back to the motor-inn after setting a small letter underneath the glove compartment.


	3. Long Road ahead

Chapter 3: Long Road Ahead

Three weeks later

Noah and Doug were driving out in a car they highwire at the other side of near Macon, looking for food and supplies as usual. Possibly at Morrow, making they're break at a nearby grocery store. Hopefully there was food before anyone could've taken whatever was inside as Noah and Doug got out of the car. Noah turned his safety his desert eagle while Doug did the same to his GLOCK with the laser sight. Doug still wore the green sweater jacket, blue pants and hiking shoes while Noah had on his white jacket with a green t-shirt, brown cargo pants and black combat shoes as he grabbed his crossbow and a backpack. The plan was simple: Go in, find food and supplies before walkers or bandits show up, and then leave out of sight. Doug was on the left side of the door while Noah was on the right side arming their guns.

Doug glanced at Noah. "Ready?"

"Always." he answered as Noah quickly and quietly opened the door, silently closing the door behind them

"Place looks deserted." Doug whispered. "Think anyone's still here? Or anything for that matter?" he asked as Noah stumbed upon a guitar near his feet

"Only one way to find out for sure." Noah picked the guitar off the floor, taking a deep breath before he started. "Here we go."

Noah began playing a short tune, loud enough for everyone to hear. The tune was one of his mother's favorite, a aerosmith song called Walk this way. He kept playing the song, seeing if there was anyone or something inside with him and Doug. Then all of a sudden, they heard banging down an aisle as Noah slowly stopped playing the song. A dark figure started, along with two more coming from aisle 6 as the figures revealed themselves as walkers. Doug aimed his gun at one of them, only for Noah to lower his GLOCK.

"Save the bullets." Noah said as he bashed the head of the first walker he approached with the guitar, falling the floor before giving it another bash to the skull. "Rule 3: Double tap. One more just in case." he said giving two more hits to its head

Doug slammed a hatchet across a walker's forehead, killing it dead. "Do those rules of yours actually help?"

"Of course it does." Noah replied stabbing both of his K-BAR knives at the final walker's head as he bashed the skull near a wall. "How do you think I'm still alive?" tapped the pocket of his jacket, where his journal as Doug was gathering food they put in a shopping cart he could find. "These survival tips."

"Yeah, but for how long?" throwing canned foods down on the shopping cart

"As long as I want it to." Noah shouted grabbing medical supplies from the pharmacy as a walker pounced on him. "Shit!" he swore kicking the walker off of him, taking out the crossbow and shooting an arrow toward its head as the walker was now dead. "Piece of shit." Noah kicked the walker in the head as he grabbed the last supply of meds

"You alright?" Noah looked over his shoulder to see Doug moving a cart of food

"Yeah." Noah spat on the downed walker he killed. "Damn thing snuck up on me." he looked back at Doug with a walker about to attack. "Get down!" he yelled as he shot at the walker behind Doug in the head. "Fuck!"

"Oh no..." Doug looked around suddenly hearing walkers. "We need to go!"

"No shit, run!" he shouted as him and Doug ran out the door, taking the supplies with them as Doug started putting in the back of the trunk. "Cover me!" he told Noah as he started firing on the head of incoming walkers

"You done?" Noah asked, shooting a walker in the eye as it dropped dead while reloading a magazine in his gun

"Almost... got it!" Doug closed the trunk and ran toward the driver side as he got inside the car. "It's done. Get in!" Noah followed getting in the car as Doug drove off

"That was too close."

"No shit."

`0`

Noah and Doug made it back to the Travelier motor-inn motel, honking the horn as Travis opened the gate so him and Noah could move the food in the Rv. Doug got out of the car carrying medical supplies as him and Noah made their way to Lily's room. Noah ruffled Clementine's head a little bit as he noticed Ben was on watch... again. Travis was wearing a denim jacket instead of his letterman one, along the way a more better lookout at taking watch. But Noah shook his head as he saw Kenny and Lily arguing. And lately, it's been getting out of hand. Especially since Lily's dad was dead. Noah told him that he was going to kill himself having a heart attack, and he was right. Lily on the other hand, had looked to become unstable recently. She bear resentment to Kenny and Lee, especially Noah for agreeing to leave Larry back at the St. John farm. With the thought terrifying him if things got worse, if she went insane for instance.

Noah shook his head in annoyance. "You two are at it again? Why can't you both just make-up already?"

"Can it, Noah." Kenny said slightly annoyed

"Don't boss people around."

"I'm sorry. But someone needs to make executive decisions for the group and I don't think your fit as leader."

"You two need to stop this shit." Noah responded with everyone glancing at him. "We're strongest together. It can't be you verseus us, Lily. We're sorry about what happened to your dad, but we're in this together now. And you need to move on. I mean, what are you going to about food? Protection? Or hell when this place falls apart. Someone's got to be thinking this shit."

"He's right. We even got food from that station wagon." Lee stated. "Where would be now if we didn't have that?"

Lily glared at Kenny. "Everything that happens to us is another excuse for you to pull this crap about leaving. All I want is a week of peace not hearing it." Noah decided to leave the conversation after that, stepping to lay his crossbow down on a small table

"Now everyone GET OUT!" Lily yelled as everyone moved away from her room after she shut the door

"She'll get over it." Lee said

"She's riling everybody else, otherwise." Kenny replied with him and Katjaa leaving

"Well Lily's right about one thing, none of this isn't getting any easier." Travis stated. "I'm heading to my room for a nap. I got Ben's watch for 15 minutes. So I might as well get a well needed rest." Travis to his room ahead upstairs to the second room near Clementine

Carley sighed. "Things are coming to a head."

"It's close, I can tell you that." Noah said making his way upstairs to his room. "For once, I would like to be in charge of the group this time." he said opening the door to his motel room

He headed toward the bathroom and close the door. After taking throwing up and washing his hands, he stared down at his reflection at the mirror. His shaved fade cut grown, revealing a light scruffy stubble on his face. He looked at the photo of his adoptive mother Tessa. He looked away putting the photo of her back in his pocket. All of a sudden, he heard Lee and Carley talking about something as Lee went down the stairs with Noah stepping out of his motel room.

"What were you two talking about?"

"Hmm?" Carley glanced at Noah. "Oh, nothing."

Noah shook his head after Carley avoiding the answer. "Carley..."

"About Lee telling everyone who he was." she said

"You mean the convicted killer thing?"

"Yeah, I mean if Lily told anyone about Lee before all of this..."

"They wouldn't trust him." Noah finished as he smiled at Carley. "I think you helped him out with that."

"Thanks." Carley said showing a small grin as she heard Noah letting out a laugh. "What's funny?"

"Nothing. It's just that I remember you talking with Clementine ten weeks ago, seeing how you and Lee are with you. It's like you two are her parents."

"I don't know about that. Maybe we are her parents in a way." Carley then had a saddened look on her face. "Lee, told me what happen to her mom and dad."

"Yeah, I know." Noah said looking down. "He told me two days ago that her parents are gone. Lee said he heard three messages when he was at Clem's house. Two were for the babysitter, but the last one... god. I get it that Lee doesn't want to tell Clementine what happened to her parents, but... I'm wondering on how she'll take it."

"Me too." Carley said seeing Lee talk with Kenny alone. "Looks like he's telling Kenny. He already told Ben and Travis."

"How did they take it?"

"Ben, maybe a little terrified and I somehow think he didn't know how to handle the information. Travis too, but I think he got over it real quick."

"I'm gonna head down and eat. My damn stomach's grumbling." Noah went down to the stairs to grab something to eat

"Hey, Noah?" Noah looked at the direction of the voice as he saw it was Travis while he ate out a can of sliced pears from the store he and Doug went to. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What did you want to talk about?" Noah asked still munching on the sliced pears

"Have you seen my flashlight? It's been missing for a couple of days."

"No, I haven't. You still got your spare right?"

Travis nod his head to a yes. "I still do, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this."

"You're probably tense."

"EVERYBODY DON'T FUCKING MOVE!" yelled a male's voice as bandits started to surround everyone

"Fuck, I hate it when I'm wrong!" Noah muttered with his and Travis' hands up in the air in surrender, while one of the bandits positioning them toward the group in a line

"YOU DON'T FUCKING STEAL FROM US!"

"What the hell's he talking about?"

"I have no fucking idea." Noah told Travis as he spotted Lee walking over his hands in the air, surrending

"Hold it right there, asshole!" the head leader of the bandit group shouted, aiming his gun at Lee

"Take it easy." Lee said. "We have more supplies. We can keep the deal going."

"Too late shithead! We ain't givin' second chances!" the bandit leader barked as Travis noticed Lily taking position

"It was a mix-up! We'll make it worth your while."

"...I'm listenin'."

"We can split the supplies. Spread them around!" Lee suggested making his way closer, with his hands still up

"Or we can kill you and take it ALL."

"And what about when they run out? When you don't have us out there collecting them for you?" Lee pointed out to the leader of the bandits

"Well..." the bandit leader put his gun down. "I suppose we oughta hash out some terms, then."

"I don't like no damn hash, man." said one of the bandits on the leader's left

"Shut up or I'll-!" the leader was shot in the head by Lily with her sniper rifle

"Christ!"

"Oh, shit!"

Carley both bandits in the head, while the three went to make a run for it. Lee managed to shoot in the back, even with Doug shooting the bandit in the ass when the shot bandit made a whistle that lead to the bandits storming the motel. Travis grabbed a crossbow from one of the bandits and took the quiver of arrows with as one of the bandit shot at Ben. Travis launched an arrow at the bandit's neck that was shooting Ben, with another arrow impacted on the orbital of the next bandit's eye while Noah shot two more as he motioned Travis to go with Ben in the RV.

"Thanks!"

"Just get in!" Noah shouted shooting another bandit in the eyes.

"Get those bastards! Give our people cover and get them in the RV!" Kenny yelled out after Lee shot a bandit in the head, along with two more as he looked at Carley and Noah. "Now! Get over here! Hurry!"

Carley and Noah ran toward Lee, while Doug followed as they got in the RV. Noah, on the other hand decided to help Lee as he shot a few more bandits. Then all of a sudden, he saw a walker attack one of the bandits which meant they were close to coming. Noah peeked out the window to see bandits firing on walkers as they left, with a few of them being eaten by walkers. Kenny brought Katjaa and Duck inside with Lee aand Lily coming in last. Kenny drove away from the motor-inn, running over a couple of walkers before they left the motor-inn motel for good.

`0`

"Kat! Jesus, are you okay?!" Kenny said staring at his wife, Katjaa with Duck on her lap unconscious

"I'm fine, Ken. I'm fine." she reassured Kenny

"Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit!" Ben panicked with his hands on his head

"Jesus Christ! I can't believe that happened." Travis said to everyone. "What the hell are we going to do?!"

"Everything's fine, Travis."

"Everything's not fine." Lily growled as she glared at Ben and Travis. "We need to figure out how any of this happened. We just lost everything."

"Well, at least we made it out of there with this RV." Noah stated

"Damn straight!" Kenny agreed still driving

"That and nobody died." Doug pointed out

"Kat's head is split open!"

"I'm fine, Ken!"

"Somebody in here caused this."

"Settle down back there!" Kenny shouted still driving. "That's crazy. Nobody didn't cause anything."

"Kenny's right. The bandits been having our numbers for weeks now." Travis stated. "They just manage to get the drop on us today."

"This is different." Lily looked at Lee. "Somebody was working with them. Whoever it was slipping them our meds. They didn't even get their last package, so they attacked."

"What?" Noah said confused, along with everyone else being confused except Kenny and Katjaa who were in the front. "The hell you talkin' about?"

"Calm down back there! That's nuts!"

Lily glanced at Lee then everyone else. "Lee found a bag of supplies hidden outside the wall!" everyone except Kenny and Katjaa looked at Lee

"It's true."

Lily glared straight at Carley. "So, Carley, is there something you want to say?"

Carley scoffed. "Please."

"Lily..." Noah shook his head in disagreement with Lily's assumption of Carley being the culprit who stole the supplies

"We have to get it out of you then?" Lily still glared at Carley

"Back off." Carley snarled

"You're in not position to make demands."

"Hold up, you're just pointing fingers." Noah disagreed

"Carley's trustworthy. She's not a traitor, Lily." Lee stated

"Thank you, Lee." Carley said in graditude

"She can fight her own battles." Lily hissed glaring at Lee, then staring back at Carley. "Unless there's something going on here that implicates you both."

Carley scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Like, look, maybe we should put a vote or something like that?" Ben said in near hesistation

"WHAT?!" Lily exclaimed glaring at Ben

"Just look. All of this was probably a mistake." Ben explained

"Stop pointing the finger around Lily. It's not helping." Doug said

"We need to find out who the traitor is, whether anyone likes it or not."

"Nobody wasn't stealing ANYTHING." Ben said in near panic

Lily glared at Ben and Carley. "Was it both of you?" she then glared straight at Travis. "Or was it Travis?" she also frowned at Doug. "Or you, Doug?"

Travis glared back at her. "Oh fuck you, Lily!"

"Now hold on a minute..." Doug trailed off

"Look, you could just let me out." Ben said folding his arms. "I didn't do it, but I don't like this. I don't like where this is going."

Lily leaned forward, glaring at Ben in the eyes. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't have anything to do with it."

Then all of a sudden, the RV ran over something in the road. Kenny stopped the RV and pulled over, letting the RV come to a halt. But that stopped Lily from questioning anyone who slip supplies to the bandits back at the motor-inn. So with the RV stopping, this literally became a field day for her as she ordered everyone out. Kenny on the other hand went to check out what he ran over with the RV. It was now night time, a certain advantage walkers could have at during the dark.

"Aside from the surface damage of the RV, we got a walker trapped underneath." Noah told Kenny as he crouched down to see for himself

"God damnit. Everyone, keep your eyes peeled out here."

"You know what?" Lily stared at Ben, Carley and Travis. "We shouldn't just kick you out, we should hear what everybody thinks."

"I think you should just chill out."

"I'm not taking this." Carley said. "You can push Ben around, maybe Travis, but not me."

"There's no way it was Carley. It was somebody else. It could've been someone sneaking into our camp."

Lily glared at Lee folding her arms. "That's ridiculous. That's what you think?"

"Well, yeah." Noah answered for Lee. "It's pretty obvious."

"Okay, Fine then." Lily glanced at Kenny trying to think of a way to remove the walker underneath the RV. "Kenny?"

"I don't know! Fuck! Just stop, would ya?!"

"Well, your vote counts for you and Katjaa."

"We don't need all these votes! What do I have to do to get you to trust me? I'll do ANYTHING!" Ben said panicking. "I'll do watches for months."

"The hell you will."

"Ben, seriously, stop panicking. Take a breath and calm down." Noah said to Ben

Lily motioned her hand at Ben. "Do we need move evidence than this?!"

"Fuck EVIDENCE! Stop treating him like this."

"Shut up, Carley! I heard enough out of you!"

"Lily, calm down. You're making things worse." Doug said. "If you want to find out who caused whatever happen back at the motor-inn, you can do it later. Right now, we need to focus on someplace else in the meantime."

"Don't tell me to calm down. We need to do this now, Doug." Lily snarled at Doug. "Kenny, what's it going to be?"

"Just give me a damn minute." Kenny said occupied at the moment

"Ben until that walker is dealt with, you have until a minute to tell me it was her, Doug, or Travis and not you."

"Damn it, Lily. Quit torturing the kid." Doug stepped in. "You can settle this later."

"No!" Ben panicked

"BEN!"

"I did it." Lee said while everyone except Kenny staring at him, seeing Lily glare at him. "Yeah, it was me. That get you to lay off the kid?"

"I think you're capable of being a real piece of shit, but I know it wasn't you." Lily glanced at Clementine. "Not with her in your life."

"Please, just let get back in the-" Lily cut Ben off

"No. That's not going to be happen. Tell me who it was, now. Tell m-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" everyone looked at who shouted at Lily, only to realize it was actually Travis. "You just think you're some tough chick, instead you're just some scared little bitch who lost her daddy. Big fucking deal! He's dead, get over it! Take a book from Lee and Noah for once in your life and try to help someone you crazy cunt! And another thing..." Travis glared directly at Lily. "I'm glad we left your dad back at that barn! He was nothing but an asshole and I'm glad he's dead." Travis concluded as Lily sent an evil glare at him, with everyone's eyes wide with shock

"Oh, shit..." Noah trailed off, while Kenny removed the walker underneath the RV and killed it by stomping its brains out as he made his way toward the group

"Now, what the fuck's the problem?"

Before anyone could reply back to Kenny, a gunshot was fired and something fall on the ground. Everyone looked down with wide eyes to see it was Travis, killed by a bullet in the eye leading the brain. And the culprit that fired the gun, was Lily as she stood there staring at the dead Travis. Before Lee could confront Lily, Noah pinned her to the RV as he grabbed both of wrists with an angered look on his face.

"Drop that fucking gun... NOW!" he yelled with Lily bug eyed as she drop the gun on the ground

"Travis..." Ben said stammering

"I can't believe she just did that..." Doug said as he made his way back into the RV still shocked at what happened just now. "Oh god." Doug looked away as he was now inducing vomit from out his mouth

"Kenny! What's happening?!" Katjaa yelled from inside the RV

"Keep Duck away from the windows! Jesus Christ!" he said stepping away from Travis' corpse as he made his way to Noah who still held Lily bound to the RV, while Carley picked her GLOCK off the ground. "GET IN!" he glared at Lily. "We're leavin' this crazy bitch."

"He couldn't be trusted, Noah. Lee. You have to believe me." she pleaded as Noah realeased his grip on her. "Guys, please..."

"What... what do we do with her?" Doug asked still shocked

"I say we leave her for the walkers." Kenny growled, keeping his glare focused at Lily

"You're not coming with us." Lee told Lily, leaving this situitation to be the choice to do with Lily

"I'll die out here." she said with her voice cracking down in fear

"We don't care." Carley snarled, glaring at Lily as she had a worried look staring at Clementine, placing her hands on the little girl's shoulders after what she just witnessed right in front of her. "Come on, Clementine. Let's get back in the RV."

"You're a murderer, Lily. We can't have you with us!"

"I'm a murderer!? You had Lee with you this whole time!"

"I know what he did before."

Lily's eyes went wider. "You know?!"

"Yeah, he told me. And I don't give a shit." he stated with Ben going inside the RV. "If we keep you with us, how long until you get me?"

"I was trying to protect all of us. I don't have anything left."

Noah glared at Lily, then looked away in disdain. "You lost it. You've fucking lost it, Lily. And now this," he looked at Travis' corpse, then back at Lily. "It's on your hands for the rest of your life. Go get eaten by a walker." he said in a mixture of disgust and disappointment getting in the RV as Kenny did the same

"Get in, Lee." he shouted to Lee as said person did, leaving Lily behind as she started running away from a walker

"I hope we don't see her again. I... just can't believe she cracked like that." Doug said seeing Lily run in the woods. "I knew she was going paranoid, but..."

"We know, Doug." Noah said still shocked at what just happened to the group recently. "That was a total mindfuck."

"Lee. Noah." both said people turned their attention to the front seat where Kenny, Katjaa and Duck were. "Could you two come here, please?"

"You alright, Clem?" Lee asked Clementine who was resting her head on Carley's shoulder

"Katjaa needs you for something." she said with her head rested on Carley's chest

"You two should go on ahead to see what her and Kenny want." Carley said wrapping her arms around Clementine in a motherly manner while Lee and Noah went to the front side of the RV

"What's up?" Kenny and Katjaa looked at each other than at Duck with saddened looks on their faces. "Is Duck feeling alright?" he asked as Katjaa moved up Duck's, showing the bite mark on Duck's stomach with Noah and Lee's eyes wide in horror

"Oh my god... when did this happen?" Noah asked still shocked

"During the raid back in the motor-inn." Kenny answered keeping his eyes on the road

"What's the plan? We've never had a bite victim in the group before." Lee said

"I'll keep an eye on him and see what I can do, from a medical prospective." Katjaa stated

"We keep the same play unless something changes. East."

"Guys, you know that-" Noah was cut off by Katjaa

"What other choice is there?!" Katjaa snapped. "We thought you two should know."

Kenny glanced at Lee and Noah for a short moment. "Important to be honest with each other."

"If one of you can tell Clementine, that would be much appreciated." Katjaa said as Lee sat beside Carley and Clementine, with Carley laying on his chest while Clementine laid on Carley's

"You wanna tell them?" Noah said with a sigh as he leaned on the counter

"Tell us what?" Carley stared at Noah, then straight at Lee

"Duck's been bitten." Lee told Carley and Clementine. "It happened back at the motel during the bandit attack."

Carley gasped in shock. "Oh god..."

"I don't feel good." Clementine said in a sad tone with Noah looking away. "What about Travis?"

"Gone. But won't come back."

"Because he was shot in the head."

"That's right. It's horrible, sweetie." Carley said rubbing Clementine's back in a circular motion in a motherly way

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm glad I have you two then." Lee said to Carley and Clementine as they looked up at him, smiling

"Me too." Clementine said looking at Lee and Carley

"I'm glad I have you guys too." Carley agreed showing a small grin at Clementine. "In a way, I always wanted to have a little girl."

Clementine looked down with a sad look. "I heard you outside my treehouse and thought about dropping a hammer on your head."

"Whoa." Noah deadpanned at what Clementine just recently said

"Hmm. That's nice."

"I didn't though." she replied with Noah letting out a chuckle

"Thanks."

"I'm gonna get some rest like the others." Noah said as he laid back on a bench, falling asleep.

`0`

Noah suddenly heard a guitar playing as his eyes opened, seeing that everyone in the RV was gone. He grabbed his desert eagle and K-BARs from the counter as he stepped, seeing the group with a homeless man playing his guitar. Noah looked at where they were. In the woods, along with a freight train right in front of him and the group. He looked over to Duck, who wasn't doing any good and was getting a bit worse by the minute. He had an hour, maybe minutes to live until he turned.

"Noah!" Clementine ran and hugged him

"Hey, Clem. You doing okay?"

"Yes."

"That's good to hear, then." Noah walked over to Katjaa. "Has Clementine said anything about Travis? Or Duck?"

"No. that little girl is a puzzle. Oh god..." she slightly looked away. "Travis. It seemed like it was yesterday ago. He always helped around and kept watch whenever anyone needed some rest. He was a good kid."

"Think we made the right call about Lily?"

"Yes. We have lines. And we made the right call with her."

"Did the others think so too?"

"Carley and Doug agreed. Ben's still shaken about it."

"I bet he is." Noah glanced at the homeless man. "Hell, Travis was his best friend." he concluded as the homeless man made his way toward them

"Howdy."

"Hey." Noah glanced at Katjaa. "Who's he?"

"That's Chuck. We just met him recently." Katjaa replied as Lee and Kenny walking toward them

"We don't got much left, so just gather whatever you have." Kenny said everyone started getting in the boxcar

"Duck is getting sicker." Katjaa stated to Kenny as he looked at his son's skin getting paler and worse, eyes wide when he saw how worse it looked

"We can keep going if you want, Kenny." Lee said to Kenny, trying to sympathize with him

"Damn right I want. That's what we're doing." Keny declared

"We can't ignore this shit, Kenny. It's going to happen sooner or later."

Kenny glared at Noah. "If it were, what could we do to help?"

"I think Lee and Noah just want to talk it through." Katjaa explained

"It's TALKED THROUGH. Get on, Kat." Kenny quickly said in disbelief. "I'll be up front. I don't want to hear any nonsense until we get where we're goin'."

"Damn it, Kenny..." Noah muttered as him and Katjaa got inside the boxcar, with Lee going with Kenny to move the train

The train was going where it needed to, East. The whole ride was quiet. Ben was sitting with his hands on his knees, still looking down at the fact Travis was shot in the head by Lily yesterday. Doug was staring at the woods, catching a view of a walker being hit by the train with its head decapiated. Carley was with Clementine as the nine year old girl stared at Duck getting sicker, leaving to Clementine to rest her head on Carley's chest. Noah was staring at the state Duck was in, and he was close enough to dying.

"Got to be hard on ya, eh? Six adults taking care of three kids." Chuck glanced at Ben who glared at him. "No offense, son."

"There were more of us." Noah stated

"Dead get them?"

Noah looked down at Chuck's question. "No."

Chuck nod his head in understanding. "Ah, livin' got them then."

Duck started coughing up blood. "Noah! I need you. Right now." she said as Noah wiped the blood off of Duck's mouth with a napkin. "He's out of time. We need to stop this train."

"But you know Kenny won't."

Katjaa pointed at the bloodied napkin. "He will if you show him that."

"Alright then." Noah left the boxcar heading the front where Lee and Kenny as he opened the door. "Ken, you got to stop the train."

"What are you on about?" Kenny said ignoring Noah as he showed him the napkin with Duck's blood. "What the hell is that?"

"Your son's blood."

"Get that away from me, Noah."

"You know he's dying, Ken." Lee said to Kenny

"Nobody knows shit! He'll be fine."

Noah looked down. "No he won't, Kenny. We have to stop this train."

"Get back there and tell my wife there's nothing to worry about." Kenny glanced over his shoulder at Lee and Noah. "What's the goddamn deal? He's a little sick, that's it. Ya'll just making it worse."

"You think you're the reason Duck's bitten, don't you? Like how you had this coming." Noah said staring at Kenny. "You didn't kill Hershel's son."

"Yes, I did. And now it's catching up to me."

"That's not what went down. You looked out for your kid and a bad thing happened to someone else's." Lee stated

"There's no way this world lets my son live when I helped put someone else's in the ground." Kenny said with his voice slowly cracking down

"You know that's not the way it works." Lee placed his hand on Kenny's shoulder. "Stop the train, man."

Kenny side glanced at Lee and Noah as he stopped the train. Everyone step out with Noah heading over to the others, while Katjaa holding Duck went toward Kenny. Doug and Carley looked down knowing what was going to happen next. Lee said he would put Duck out of misery for Kenny and Katjaa's sake. They went to the forest to put them down while Lee walked over to Clementine who was standing beside Carley.

"What's happening?"

"Duck is dying." Lee said in sad tone

"I know." she said back in a sadder tone, looking away then back at Lee. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to put him out of his misery. By making sure he doesn't come back."

"Oh."

"Look Clem, things will-" Lee was cut off as a gunshot was fired

"What the hell?" Noah swore

"NOOO!"

"Carley, get Clementine back in the train. Go, it'll be fine."

"I'll go with you." Noah stated

"No." Lee stated. "I need you here with the group." he explained running toward where Kenny and Katjaa were

`0`

Things have worse have taken a turn for the worst. The motor-inn gone, Lily killing Travis, and most of all Duck and Katjaa dead. Lee told everyone what happened. Katjaa shot herself in the head so she wouldn't see her own son die, attempting suicide. And that lead to Kenny's world being turned upside down. Ben was more depressed than ever, with Doug and Carley shocked at what happened. Noah was with Kenny at the train, seeing Lee brush aside both of them to where Chuck was out. Apparently, Noah could tell they were having an argument about something he just didn't know what. Once they were done, Lee came back inside.

"Lee." Noah said only for Lee to leave. "Lee. Hey!"

Lee finally glanced at Noah. "What?"

"What's up? You were having some sort of chat with Chuck." he stated. "You seemed pretty pissed about it."

"He told Clementine what happened to Duck would happen to her."

"What? Why the hell would he say that?" Noah asked with his voice filled with shock and held up anger

"He said Clementine needed to know that she has to survive if she's ever on her own."

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, what happens now?"

"I'm going to talk it over with Carley. Clementine too. She needs to know how a map works, cut her hair from being grabbed and how to use a gun."

"You can teach her how to shoot and Carley can cut her hair." Noah stated. "I'll teach her how a map works."

"You have a good point. I'll go tell Carley." Lee said moving his way to the boxcar, while Noah went inside as well

Noah grabbed a bottle of whiskey that Chuck had. He looked at the bottle, sending a fifth of liquior left in it. He took it and left out of the boxcar, all the way to the end where Chuck was standing at.

"Lee told me about the little talk you had." Chuck glanced at Noah. "You got a point. I mean, in case we'll all dead and she's alone. Anyway," Noah gave Chuck his bottle of whiskey. "Here's your drink."

"Thanks. You want any?"

"No, I think I'll pass for now." Noah paused as he glanced at Kenny. "But Kenny might. God knows he could use one."

"Good. Go see if he does." Chuck said as Noah went to talk to Kenny

"Chuck's offering anyone a drink. You want one, man?"

Kenny sighed. "Yeah. I could use one right about now." he got up and went outside with Chuck, while Noah grabbed the map off the tray

"A map of Georgia's cities and stuff. Good one, too." he said, making his way back to the boxcar. Still noticed that Ben was "Hey, Ben."

"It was me."

Noah stopped and glanced at Ben with a confused look on his face. "What?"

"I was the one giving the bandits supplies." Noah made his way toward Ben. "It was me. It's all my fault."

Noah's eyes become wide with shock, he couldn't even believe it. The one giving the bandits supplies, the raid back at the motor-inn, and Travis being shot by Lily. But most of all, Duck being bitten with him and Katjaa dead. The one responsible for what happened yesterday, was actually Ben. Noah grabbed Ben by the collar of his jacket, slamming him on the backside of the train.

"I could fucking kill you right now, Ben. What the hell where you thinking?! Do you realize what you've done!?" Noah shouted enraged, letting go of Ben to calm himself down. "Jesus, Ben..."

"I know, I know! They said they had my friend and that he was with them."

"Christ's sake." Noah growled angrily. "They didn't have your friend, did they?" Ben shook his head, to answer with a no. "Could we even trust you, Ben?"

"Yes."

"Why the hell are you even telling me this?"

"I just-" Noah cut Ben off

"No." Noah objected. "Don't tell anybody. Not even Kenny. You can't take away any of the shit you've done back. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Ben answered in a panicking tone as the door to the boxcar opened, revealing Lee and Carley who stared at the two strangely

"What are you guys talking about?" Carley asked

"Nothing." Noah walked toward the couple. "I'll tell you two later." he whispered to Lee and Carley as he went inside with Clementine, seeing her hair now had pigtails after her hair was cut by Carley. "Hey Clem."

"Hi." she said as Noah spread out the map

"Let's talk about Savannah." he saw Clementine smile. "And just in case if the city's bad or under control, we're going to look at this map. You and I are a team. And a team needs a plan. So you and I should know what we're doing."

"A plan. I like it."

"Good to hear."

"And my parents are in Savannah."

"I know Clem, but-" Noah was cut off by Clementine

"No. I don't care about safety. I want to find them."

"I know. But..." he glanced at Clementine with a sad look. "If you do look for them, you might not like you'll find in Savannah. But if you think they're still out there, we'll look for them."

Clementine smiled. "Really?"

"Sure. Now let's look at this map." Noah turned his attention to the map. "There's a lot of hotels, stores too." Noah pointed at the Marsh hotel. "And there's the Marsh house over there."

"That's where I get good deserts!"

"Then that's where they'll probably be in Savan-"

"SHIT. Hold on, everybody!" Kenny yelled as the train came to a stop, with Noah holding onto Clementine as the train came to a halt. "You okay?" Noah asked Clementine as she nodded in reply. "Let's go see what going on."

Noah and Clementine saw a hanging fuel tank above a wrecked bridge. They spotted Lee and Kenny talking to two people up on the destroyed bridge. One was a persian-american that shorter than the taller African-American woman. The man wore a black puffy jacket and blue jeans while the woman wore a white and purple jacket and blue pants. Clementine went up to follow Lee going up the ladder. That's when Lee and Clementine, along with the couple came down the ladder to meet the group.

"Guys, this is Omid and Chirsta." Lee said with everyone remaining silent

"Hey." Noah said quickly

Omid rubbed the back of his head. "Not big on welcome..." he muttered jokingly. "At ease said something."

"Like I said, we could use some good people."

"We just want to say hi and that your train is pretty cool."

"The plan is to cut that tanker down and be on our way."

"Good plan." Noah glanced at the small train station nearby. "That place might have a cutter we could use."

"Seems like a plan enough to me."

Omid looked at Lee. "You wanna stay in on that tanker?"

Christa glanced at Carley and Clementine. "I'll get to know the girls for a minute, if you don't mind."

"And why don't I show you how this thing works, in case something happens. It probably for the best."

"Someone might want to have a look at that station too." Doug stated

"Sounds great. Let's do this thing."

Doug glanced at Ben who was on top of the boxcar. "Ben, you keep lookout in case walkers show up."

"You got it." Ben said as everyone got accquainted

"Noah." he glanced at Lee. "You said you wanted to tell me something about the argument you and Ben were having?"

Noah glanced at everyone as he motioned Lee to follow him, making sure not be near anyone. "Remember that thing Lily talked about someone stealing supplies?"

Lee folded his arms together looking confused before a frown appeared on his face. "Yeah... why?"

"It turns out the one giving the supplies to the bandits was actually Ben."

Lee's eyes widened at the shocking truth. "WHAT?"

"It was Ben. He was the one that gave them our medical supplies. He told me himself after what happened with Katjaa and Duck."

"Jesus..." Lee glanced at Kenny, going over how to operate the train with Omid after Doug scope the area out. "Has he told Kenny?"

"I told him not to." Noah stated. "Judging by the state Ken's in right now, I'd rather not want Ben to tell him."

"That's a good idea." Lee glanced at Ben on watch. "I can't believe it was Ben. Do you know why he would do something like this?"

"No, not a clue. Maybe he thought he could help the group that way, but I still don't know. It's just... I don't want to talk about it anymore, man." Noah said. "Hey, Lee..." Lee glanced at Noah. "Might if I take Clementine to check out that station?"

"Go ahead. She's a crack shot now."

"No kidding." Noah walked to Clementine. "Hey, Clem, you want to come with me to that train station? To see what we're looking for?" he glanced at everyone. "Anyone come hustle if someone's wrong." he shouted

"Sure, let's do that." she said as her and Noah made their way to the abandonded train station

Noah grabbed the door knob. "Ready?" Clementine nodded in a yes as the door was locked, with Noah giving Clementine a boost up after he spotted a window above. "See anything?"

"Lots of crates and stuff."

"We can either find a key or figure out a way to knock down this door." Noah suggested as he sound a click sound above

"I think I opened it."

"Seriously?" Noah asked putting Clementine on the ground as she landed on her feet, leaving Clementine to open the door. "It's dark in here."

"Maybe I can keep the door open?" Clementine asked when Noah placed a wrench to leave it half open

"There. And I think I see a blow torch over by that fence." Noah grabbed Clementine and put her on his shoulders, making her through the fence. "Go ahead and get the keys, Clem." he said as Noah looked at Clementine who was wide eyed. "Clem?"

"Behind you!" she warned as Noah turned to see a couple of walkers behind him

"Fucking shit!" Noah aimed his gun at the walker, only for to suddenly pounce on him as he kicked the walker out of him. "Can't risk a gunshot." Noah put the gun back in his holster and tried for his K-BAR knives, but they weren't in his possession. "Shit. I left them with Carley." Noah glanced at the wrench heading the door as he went for it, along with punching a walker that was almost near him.

He grabbed the wrench holding the door, bashing it with the walker's head three times killing it permeantely. Noah kicked the other in the ground, slamming the wrench at the walker's head four times. Just when he was about to take a breather, he noticed another in the fence with Clementine as she tossed him the key. Noah unlocked the door as Clementine ran to him in a frightening hug as Noah shot the walker in the head with his desert eagle.

"You okay, Clem?"

"Yeah. That didn't go so good."

"No, it didn't." Noah grinned chuckling. "Good thing we're okay." Clementine smiled back

"What's going on?" Christa opened the door. "I thought I heard a gunshot."

"We're fine."

Christa gave off a stare as she folder her arms. "You and an eight year old verseus three of them, huh?"

"We handled it." Noah shrugged

"Right." Christa said in disbelief. "Well, I'm going to check outside and see if the noise didn't attract anything."

Clementine smiled. "That's a good idea."

Christa smiled back as she left, but stopped as she glanced at Noah with a frown. "I hope you know what you're doing with her."

"Me too."

Christa's expression softened. "For her sake." she replied leaving as Noah and Clementine did the same

After getting the blow torch from the station, Lee and Omid were cutting the hook off the tanker. But while that happened, Ben suddenly found forty walkers heading toward the train as he yelled to let everyone know. Lee and Omid were still cutting down the hook to the tanker as it finally came off. Lee kicked the blow torch down where the fuel spilled as it spewed on fire, with him and going at the back. Lee jumped on the boxcar while Omid went second, only for him to sprain his leg and fall to the ground. Christa jumped in to help him while Lee and Doug pulled them both in, leaving the tanker to explode preventing walkers from going further. Lee and Noah were on the operating side of the train as Lee saw Clementine sleep on the chair. Noah smiled as well, but noticed a drawing in Clementine's backpack as he saw the drawing was of Kenny and his family. Both of them looked away with sad looks while Kenny came in as Noah put the drawing back in her bag.

"Next stop, the Altantic."

"We have to find a boat." Lee stated. "We have to."

Kenny glanced at Lee. "We will."

"You'll be alright, Kenny." Noah said

"I'll be alive, I guess. Blood in my heart, blood in my brain at least."

"We'll leave you to your thoughts." Lee said as he glanced at Clementine sleeping. "She's out cold like I've seen her been." he stated as him along with Kenny and Noah heard a radio cracked suddenly

"What the fuck?" Noah stared with wide eyes as he noticed the walkie-talkie was still working

"Helloo... there..."

"What the...?"

"Can't wait for you to get here, Clementine. I've got your parents right here and you be sure to find me whether Lee and Noah wants you to or not. Now, what I need-" Noah turned the radio off

"Holy shit..." Lee said shocked

"I thought that fucking thing was broken..."

"Hell, so did I." Noah said

Kenny looked straight at Savannah. "Well, it looks like someone knows where we're headed."

Noah stared at Savannah along with Lee and Kenny. "Who the fuck...?"

"I don't know, guys. But I fucking doubt we're going to be happy when we find out."


	4. Around Every Corner

Chapter 4: Around Every Corner

The group finally arrived in Savannah, walking the deserted town as everyone kept watch while walking. Kenny was leading the group first, while Ben and Chuck were following behind him. Christa was checking on Omid who was still limping, with Doug helping the crippled man. Noah was beside Lee, Clementine and Carley. The whole walk was quiet ever since the arrival in Savannah. Lee had the radio in his possession as Clementine kept glancing at it, then at Lee and Noah.

"Can I just hold it?" Lee and Noah glanced at Clementine, then continued on ahead. "I mean, my parents are here. Maybe I can-" Noah cut Clementine off

"Not now Clem, maybe later." he said. "We need you to focus. Turn your attention to the streets, okay?"

she looked down with a sad look. "Okay."

Carley glanced at Christa. "How's Omid?"

Christa looked at him with a worried look. "His leg's pretty bad."

"I'm fine." he said still limping

"You're not fine. You need to rest." Christa glanced back at Carley and Lee. "He needs to rest."

"Kenny, how farther are we to the river front?" Noah asked

"Should be just a few more blocks up ahead."

Christa glanced at Lee. "You sure they'll be boats there?"

"There sure as hell better be." Carley replied. "We can't keep walking like this all day."

"There'll be boats." Kenny side glanced at the group, then forward on the road. "Have to be. Have to be."

"I don't know." Doug said. "Maybe we should think of something else."

Ben looked at Doug. "It's alright, Doug. Kenny knows what he's doing."

Then suddenly, the church bell rung as the sound echoed through the deserted streets. Christa began to have doubts that Savannah wasn't a ghost town. Kenny believed that the bell was running on a automatic timer, but mentioned it rung was twenty past the hour. All of a sudden, Noah saw someone on the roof then disappeared.

"Someone's up there!"

"Are you sure?" Ben looked at the roof of the church. "I don't see anything."

"I know what I saw. Someone was up there."

a crack sound suddenly popped up on the walkie-talkie. "If I were you, I would get out of the street. Now."

Christa glared at Lee folding her arms. "I thought you said that thing didn't work!"

"Well, that's what we thought too so..." Noah said, trailing off in order to avoid the question Christa said. "Tough shit."

"Hello? Hello are you there?" radio scrambling became Lee's answer

Noah barged in front of him, grabbing the walkie-talkie. "Alright, who the hell is this?"

"We need to get out of the street." Noah declared. "Right now."

"What the hell was that? Is someone trying to fuck with us?"

"Guys..."

"Sounded like a warning."

"GUYS!" everyone turned their attention to Noah

Chuck stared forward at what he saw. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls..."

Kenny turned back to glare at Chuck. "What are you yammerin' on about?" Kenny and everyone else looked with wide eyes at what was in front of them.

"It tolls for thee..." Chuck finished as walkers appeared at the sound of the church bell that brought them here.

"Everybody, RUN!"

The group moved fast as Kenny shot two walkers in the head, with Chuck hitting another one with his his shovel as Christa a walker coming toward Omid. Noah took out his K-BAR and stabbed one in the head, while his other K-BAR was launched in another walker's head with pure accuracy. Doug made each precision shot count by shooting the heads off of walkers, due to the help from the laser sight of his GLOCK. Chuck ran swinging his shovel at another walker coming toward him, with Doug slamming his hatchet at another's head. One of the crawling walkers grabbed Kenny's leg, causing him to fall on the sidewalk. Kenny was freed after the walker that caught a hold of Kenny in the head. Ben, Carley and Clementine were being surrounded by a group of walkers as Ben ran away scared out of his mind, leaving Carley to defend her and Clementine. Noah and Lee shot every walker that was surrounding, leaving only a few more to come as Carley wrapped Clementine in a protective motherly embrace.

"NOO!" Lee yelled as one of the walkers was close to Clementine and Carley, only for Chuck to hit the walker and launched the top of the shovels inside its chest

Chuck glanced at Carley. "Get her out of here! I'll catch up with ya!" Carley nodded as she picked up Clementine, with both of them heading back to the group

"Move your asses! River street's up ahead!" Kenny shouted

"That's not all..." Ben stated seeing more walkers approaching

"Oh, gimme a fucking break!" Kenny swore

"Wait," Christa looked left and right. "Where the hell is Chuck?"

Doug saw Chuck still fighting every walker coming his way. "He's still back there!"

"Shit! We gotta help him out!" Noah exclaimed

Chuck hitting another walker's head off. "Don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Just go!" he yelled as the group went left at King street

The group made their way inside the backyard of a house up ahead, with Kenny opening the gate door as they went in. Omid tripped on the ground, with the wound on his leg beginning to open up. They thought any way they could get into the house, but couldn't due to the windows barricaded and the door locked. However, there was one way they could get in and only one way. The pet door but there was only one problem, it was locked and it would only open if the dog was present. Unfornately, that dog was dead and buried beside its dog house in the yard. Lee went to dig out the grave as the dog, all dead and rotten. The stentch filled the air as Noah crouched down to carefully remove the collar off of the dead dog, only for the spine of the ded dog to come off with Christa throwing up. When Omid asked if Christa was fine, she quickly answered which lead Noah to be she was possibly pregnant. He kept the whole matter to himself only. Long story short, Lee opened the pet door as Clementine crawled in and opened the back door with everyone going inside. Inside was a abandoned kitchen along with a living room showing a family portrait of the people who lived there follow by a fireplace below the portrait.

Omid laid on the couch as Christa went to check on his open wound, with Carley sitting on a chair putting Clementine on her lap. In the kitchen, there was a bag of dog food hanging by on the counter. Doug sat down on a two seated couch as Noah search the dining room to see if the house was abandonded. So far, they were only a couple bottles of whiskey on the dining table. Christa made her way toward Lee, Noah and Kenny.

"So, when were you going to tell us about the radio?"

Kenny glanced at her. "Tell you what?"

"That it's working." Christa moved her arm toward the arm. "That there's someone else out there. You didn't think that might be worth sharing us?"

"We only found out yesterday that it was working." Noah stated

Christa had her hand on her hip. "So the three of you were keeping it from the rest of us? Great."

"Who gives a shit about the damn radio?" the three people in the conversation turned their attention to Kenny. "I'm more worried about whoever out there was ringing that bell and bringing dead on us! It's like they didn't want us making it the river!"

"What makes you think it's not the same person? Whoever was on the radio was close enough to see us on the street." Christa stated

"And we didn't see anyone except whoever it was on the bell tower." Noah added

"Because that doesn't make a lick of damn sense." Kenny replied

"He's right. Why would they bring the dead by ringing that bell and then try warning us about it?" Noah inquired

"Whoever that was on the radio, I think they were trying to help us. They did warn us, did they?" Lee implied

"Maybe you're right. But whoever it was, they're watching us." Christa said. "Following us. And they don't want us to know who they are. I can't think of any explanation for that would make me feel better. Can you?"

"I think we all could use a little rest. At least until those walkers are long gone and Omid's feeling better. We can gather our thoughts together by then." Noah stated

Kenny shook his head. "He'd best feel better quick. I ain't got long waiting around here to long."

"Place seems secure at least."

"I feel better when we know that for sure." Christa glanced at Noah and the others. "We need to check the whole house."

"Alright fine." Kenny glanced at Ben. "You and me will check upstairs." he looked at Lee and Noah. "Lee, you and Noah got down here. Make sure you check every door."

"We got it."

Lee and Noah started searching around the bottom portion of the house, while Ben and Kenny were making sure upstairs was secure. The bathroom and the closets to the living room and the hallway were secure, no danger inside. That lead to Lee asking Clementine who was talking to on the radio. She told Lee and Christa that the man on the radio wanted to help her find her parents. Noah already knew her parents were dead when Lee told him and Carley. When Christa tried to warn Clementine the man on the radio only wanted to use her, Ben called Lee and Noah upstairs. Once up, Lee went up the ladder to the attic with Noah asking Ben what the problem was. All he said was that Kenny went to check the ladder and hasn't come out.

"Ben, about what happened at the street..."

"I know. I froze and panicked." Ben said explaining his action a while ago. "Has that ever happen to you before?"

Noah folded his arms together. "Just don't do it again or it won't walkers you have to worry about this time, understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." he answered quickly, a bit frightened as Noah went up the attic

As soon as Noah got up to the attic, his eyes widened in absolute shock and horror. Lee and Kenny were staring at a walker. But it turned out to be the child that lived in the house that were staying at, all frail and boney. From the looks of it, the child died from stravation being trapped in the attic.

"I don't know if I can do this Lee. Couldn't do it before, couldn't do it then..." Kenny trailed off looking away from the child walker

"You can do this."

Kenny glanced a sad look at Noah. "No I can't, kid. I couldn't do it to Duck. Couldn't do it now."

"You can with this one. This isn't your son. It's someone else's kid." Noah stated, handing Kenny a wrench. "Do it out of mercy. Do it for mercy, Kenny."

Kenny grabbed the wrench from Noah's hand, walking to the frial child walker. He took a deep breath and exhaled, slamming the wrench toward the walker's head. It's skull bashed into the floor, leaving a trail of blood to leak out. Lee and Noah walked toward who handed the wrench to Lee. In his and Noah's, they realize this could have been Clementine if neither of them found her. Lee went to pick the dead walker up and went back down, with Noah following him. Lee and Noah went outside to bury the walker in the grave where the family dog was buried, with Noah giving the shovel to Lee. Clementine along with Christa and Carley stood outside seeing Lee bury the walker. Their expression were of pity and sadness as Noah went back inside the house.

"Oh my god..." Carley said silently. "Why did it happen?"

Noah looked away sighing as he put his hand on his forehead. "I don't know, Carley. I don't know what the hell mankind did to deserve this."

"Do you really think-" Carley was cut off when they heard Lee suddenly yell outside

"WHO ARE YOU?! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM US!" Carley, Noah, Clementine, Doug and Christa rushed outside seeing Lee hold the bars to the fence as he let go

"Lee? What's going on?" Carley asked

"I saw someone standing there by the fence. Watching us."

"Was it a walker?" Doug said

"No. too fast. Took off like a bat outta hell when I spotted him."

"Was it a man or a woman?" Christa asked Lee

"Didn't get a good look." he replied

"Okay, walkers are one thing. But having someone living watching us is damn creepy. Makes me wonder if that was the guy on the radio."

"It Could be." Doug agreed as Kenny and Ben walked out

"Kenny?"

"I'm fine. I just...fine. What's with all the ruckus?"

"Lee spotted someone watching us."

Ben blinked in shock. "Seriously?"

That quickly got Kenny's attention. "What? Who?"

"Don't know. They ran off before Lee could get a good look."

"All right, that's it. We stuck around long enough. It's time to get back on track, time to get down to the river and find us a boat."

"I don't know if Omid's well enough to move yet." Chirsta stated

"Well he better get ready right now. Because I'm goin' to river stream to get us a boat."

"Let's look here for supplies first. We've only checked to see if the house was secure after all." Noah stated. "So we should be split into two groups. One group looks for supplies here in the house, while the other searches for a boat."

"He's right, Kenny. We're low on food, water, meds. We need to make sure there's anyone left here." Lee added

"Lee, Noah, you two are with me." Kenny glanced at Carley and Doug. "Carley, Doug, you two look for supplies. Search for anything useful."

"Wait, can't I come?" Clementine asked staring at Lee. "My mom and dad can't be far now. Maybe we can look for them on the river."

Noah crouched down to Clementine's level. "Clem, I think it's best you stay and help Ben. I need to watch out for Omid and Christa. You know, help them get ready to move out."

"You said I'm always suppose to stay close to you." she said to Noah in a sad tone

"I know, I know. But sometimes we do what's best for the group." he stated. "It's only once, Clementine."

"Okay."

"Daylight's burnin'. Gonna go grab my gear, then we'll head out."

Carley grabbed Clementine's hand with a gentle grasp. "Come on, Clementine. Let's go back inside and help Christa with Omid.

"What about me?" Ben said

"You can help keep an eye on Clementine and Omid." Lee said

"You got it, Lee." Ben smiled heading back inside

`0`

Kenny, Lee and Noah were now walking at East Bay street as they cross over to Lincoln street. And like all towns they encounter, it was always deserted. The stores were empty looking anything visible without use. Car parts were prod and taken out, including the engine along with the missing doors on the car. However, Lee and Noah seem to worry about Kenny wondering about his psyche. Katjaa and Duck were dead, his family gone since they left the motor-inn. And after having to mercy kill that child walker from the house, they'd fear he was losing it. When Lee asked did he want to talk about what happen in the attic, Kenny quickly answered the question in a no still ignoring Lee's question. Then all of a sudden, a bell rang that brought walkers toward the sound like before. Instead, they were kept in the direction to where the bell rang. They hid toward a wall, with Lee letting them know the coast was clear after the walkers left which was good news. But bad news quickly came when they reached the boatyard, leaving it to be a wreck as all boat parts were taken.

"There's gotta be a boat... there's gotta be."

Lee had his arms behind his head. "Are you sure about that? It doesn't look like it to me. Maybe we should start thinking about a Plan B."

"This IS the plan, Lee! I know it is." Kenny glanced at Lee and Noah. "It's the only one we got, and you two pissin' on it in front of everyone like you did back at the house ain't exactly helping. I ain't givin' up for easy, that's for damn sure."

"Kenny, it's over. There's nothing here!" Noah exclaimed

"Bullshit!" Kenny spat. "There's a boat here that's still intact!"

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. "For fuck's sake, Kenny! There isn't. All of it's gone. The parts are gone. There's nothing left out here."

"This one's still might be salvageable."

"You better be right about this." Lee muttered. "I have no idea what we'll do when-"

"I said it might be. Just gimme a fucking break, okay? I'm a fishing captain, not a miracle worker."

Lee decided to look around for anything left to fix the boat, but that quickly ended when there was nothing left. What him and Noah saw next made them look in horror. Dead bodies stacked and spiked hanging around the rest, leaving a few walkers to be moving. Kenny saw afterward since the boat's hull was damaged and everything else was stripped for parts. Luckily, Noah took a quarter out of a newspaper machine and give it to Lee so he could use the telescope. A building off shore was abandoned and a boat was destroyed and unsalvageable. Then suddenly, Lee caught a glimpse of two people on the telescope as his eyes went wide.

"Get down, get down!" Lee whispered as Noah and Kenny did what he said, crouching down while he saw the two people on heading to the newstand

"Why the hell are we hiding?"

"Two people came down from that building at the end of the street."

"Where'd they go?"

"Saw them run into that newstand." Kenny and Noah eyed the newstand with Lee, seeing the two people.

"Could be our bell ringer." Kenny moved an inch toward Lee and Noah. "How about we go find out?"

"They could be scavengers. But just in if there's not..."

"You two head up to the middle of the street, while I'll go around the side to cover your flank. We'll come up on them quietly. Take them both by surprise." Kenny said taking his gun out

"We just want to talk to them."

"Oh, we're gonna talk." Kenny moved up the side quietly, with Lee and Noah walking toward the newstand

"Quick and Quiet..." Noah trailed off as him and Lee were not closer

Lee and Noah approached the newstand after the two scavengers went down, with Lee signalling him in a three minute mark. Lee held out his wrench while Noah equipped his K-BAR. Once the mark was made, they jumped up to catch the scavengers. Unfornately, they were gone. Then all of a sudden, Lee's wrench was taken as he was hit in the head sending him falling on the ground. Noah sent a jab across the attacker's face, but being quickly hit by a strong hook as he fell. His vision blurry as the figure slowly approached, along with another figure that had trapped at gunpoint. His vision was back as he got a good look at his attacker. The scavenger was wearing a red and white hooded jacket with blue pants, follow by a face mask covering his mouth. A strand of blonde hair showed under the hoodie, piercing blue eyes staring right at Noah's brown orbs. That's when Noah found out that both of the scavengers were female. The one in the red and white jacket prepared to strike Noah with a climbing pick.

"NOO!" Noah and Lee looked to their side to see Clementine behind them, but Noah turned his attention to the woman in red and white jacket whose eyes were wide. "Don't hurt them! Please!" Clementine said as the one with the climbing pick got off of Noah

The one with the ice climber removed her hood, revealing to be a caucasian female in the same age as Noah with her over the shoulders blonde hair being shown as she took off her face mask. The other one that held Lee at gunpoint had on a green and black jacket with cargo pants as the woman removed her hood as well. Noah glanced at the other woman and his eyes widened with sudden shock and joy. She was hispanic in her late-forties to early-fifties, brown hair and dark hazel eyes. He'd seen this woman before. After all, she was the one that took him in and raised Noah his whole life before the outbreak. The other woman was none other than Tessa, his mother.

"Mom?" she glanced at Noah with widened eyes

"Noah? You're alive?" she walked toward him, embracing in a motherly hug. "You're alive!" she said with tears streaming down her eyes. "I thought I lost you."

"Me too. Me too." he repeated as the red and white stared at Noah, Lee and Clementine. "I thought I lost you since the outbreak."

"You're not from Crawford." she said

Noah glanced at the blonde. "Crawford? What are you talking about?" Kenny quietly made his way close to the blonde. "Kenny, don't-!" the blonde performed a leg sweep toward Kenny's legs, causing him to fall as the gunshot awake a few spiked walkers as she prepared to use her climber pick on him. "He's with us!"

the blonde folded her arms, staring at Noah. "Who are you people?"

"This is Lee, Kenny-" Noah introduced to the blonde

"Who are you?"

"It's okay, Molly. This is my son, Noah. The one I told you about." Tessa stated

"Hi!" Clementine said, smiling as she waved at Molly and Tessa

Tessa crouched down to Clementine's level with a smile on her face. "Hello there. What's your name?"

"I'm Clementine."

"Hello, Clementine. How old are you?"

"I'm nine."

"You guys really aren't from Crawford, are you?" Molly said

"What's Crawford?" Lee asked

Molly pointed her thumb out back. "Everything from that way."

"What the hell happened here?"

Tessa decided to speak next. "You really want to know?" Lee nodded in answer. "When everything gone into shit, some people got together and sealed off that whole neighborhood. Folks willing to do anything to stay alive, we try to avoid 'em."

"How come?"

Molly glanced at Noah. "Let's just say they have a zero tolerance policy for anyone who won't... or can't live by their rules."

"So how'd you two know we weren't them?" Kenny inquired

Molly and Tessa looked at Clementine. "Because there aren't any children in Crawford. Not anymore."

"What do you mean no children? Why not?"

Molly glanced at the wall covered bodies of the dead. "No children, no elderly, no one with an advanced medical condition. Basically no one who might be a burden on the community."

"All Crawford is about the survival of the fittest. That's how they survived, while the rest of the world went to hell around them." Tessa finished

"Just the opposite when you think about it."

"That's not how we do things."

"So they actually..." Noah paused to stare at his mother, seeing her nod

"The children were forced to leave along with their parents, to fend for themselves. The same went for the elderly."

"So this is their zero tolerance policy. All this Crawford cares about is separating the wheat from the chaff? Survival of the fittests? These pricks are assholes." Noah groused, now glancing at Molly. "How do you know all this, anyway?"

Molly walked away from the pile. "Everyone in Savannah knew. What was going on inside Crawford passed around like a ghost story. One that actually existed."

Lee took a quick glance at Molly and Tessa. "Any idea who's been ringing those bells all over town?"

"Yeah, that would be me."

Kenny glared at Molly. "I knew it! Lee, I knew she was the one who's been following us, fucking with-" Noah cut off from his sentence

"Kenny! It was a guy, not her or my mother. And it doesn't matter right now."

"So get that finger out of my face, grampa. Before I shove it up your ass." Molly threatened Kenny as she glared at him. "Anyway, if I were any of you, I'd-" Molly paused when she saw walkers coming out of the street

Noah turned around and saw what she was looking at. "Fuck. Run!"

Lee, Kenny, Noah and Clementine folllowed Tessa and Molly to an alleyway as Lee lifted Clementine up. Tessa grabbed her while Molly grabbed Lee, making it up the fire escape. Kenny went next with Noah being the only one trapped. Molly tossed him her climbing pick Hilda as he struck the heads of a couple walkers. He made the garbage can away behind him, noticing a manhole in the sewers as he went down below closing the lid. Noah remained cautious while walking underneath the streets, now in the uncertainity of sewers. He kept remembering one of his rules in his survival guide, primarily one. Rule 37: Proceed with caution in sewers. Be on guard of walkers underground. He crouched down a hole as he turn the pipe right, letting sewer water pour out before he took off the pipe value. The sound of the water pour draw walkers as Noah pryed the passage way with Hilda. He get out and spotted another place value, placing the pipe in while turning it right. That lead to sound of sewer water pouring. Noah went back in the hole as walkers headed toward the water pouring, making it out of the hole undetected. There was only one ahead, fortunately it's attention wasn't focused on Noah. Along the way, he spotted Chuck dead with his guts spilled out figuring he must've tried to hide in the sewers. But he had no such luck, leaving his magnum empty as Noah saw the headshot on his forehead in order to save himself from turning.

"You were a good man, Chuck." Noah said, now turning his attention to the walker up ahead as he walked silently. "Rest in peace."

Noah made his way and way to deal with the walker, but suddenly his leg was grabbed a walker below a grate as he kicked its head trying to make it let go of him. The struggle brought the walker's attention up ahead, while Noah struck the grate walker's hand using the climber pick Hilda. Prying the walker's hand off of his leg, stabbing the walker ahead in its cranium as it fell dead. Noah took a quick look as the walkers by the downpour were still there. Once he made it up ahead, the ladder was broke but there was a hidden passage way as he removed the sign from the wall. He walked through the passage way which lead Noah somewhere else, mostly a nuclear fallout shelter. He spotted a couple of beds, along with food that would last people for months. He walked toward the door, opening it as he spotted five people with a old man aiming a gun at Noah.

"Who are you?" the old man said shaking the gun out of fear

"It's alright. I don't want any trouble here." Noah stated with his hands up

"Neither do we. Which is why you do well enough to turn around and leave. Right now."

"I'm sorry I disturbed you guys. I'll just be on my way." Noah pleaded

"You can't let him leave. He's from Crawford! If he goes back there and they find out we're down here..." said the overweight brown haired woman

"Are you from Crawford? Don't lie to me because I'll know."

"I'm not from Crawford, but I've seen the shit they did. I'm from Jonesboro. Just north of Macon."

"I have a brother in Macon. You were there?"

"Yeah. Just bad as it was here."

the overweight woman glanced at the old man and pointed at Noah. "You can't trust him Vernon. You can't let him leave!"

Vernon side glanced at the overweight woman. "What do you want me to do, shoot him in the head?"

"Why not? That'd be more of a mercy than anyone in Crawford ever showed us. Think, Vernon! What do you think if they find us?"

"I'm sorry, friend. I can't let you live."

"Listen, I'm not from Crawford. I'm not from where those assholes are. I'm not going to hurt you." Noah walked closer to Vernon as he grabbed the gun from his grasp

"Vernon, what the hell are you doing?!" the overweight woman shielded Vernon in sudden fear. "Vernon!"

Noah put the gun in his holster aside from Chuck's magnum. "See? I'm not like them."

"You're really not from Crawford?"

"No. I'm really not."

`0`

Noah made it back ot the house with Vernon. After he convinced to help on the way back to the house, Noah found out Vernon was a doctor. As soon as he got in, he spotted Molly searching the kitchen for anything useful as his mother Tessa hugged him. He handed Hilda back to Molly who eyed him up and down, then went to search in the living room as Christa rushed telling him Omid was getting worse. Vernon let him go with Christa while he walked to the living room to see Kenny drunk out of his mind. Lee and Carley had been searching for her as Noah walked over to Ben. Ben told him that she was outside on the backyard playing, with no one or nobody watching her. That lead to Lee and Carley to go find her along with Noah himself. Noah helped Carley and Lee find Clementine, but they had no idea where she was. Then all of a sudden, Noah heard a noise from the shed as Lee and Noah pulled the shed door open, falling on the ground as Clementine stood in front of them. She ran and hugged Noah, in joy that he was alive. That's when Clementine showed them what was inside the shed that seem to be helpful, a boat. Things were finally coming their way as Kenny's spirits was left up to see the boat, finding his confidence back.

"So the bad news is that the fuel's empty and the battery's dead?" Doug said

"Otherwise than that, she's still sea worthy." Kenny replied

"Where the hell are we going to find a battery and enough fuel?" Carley inquired

That's when Noah came up with an idea, but he didn't like it. "The only place that would have what we need for the boat is at Crawford. Which means we have to head there to get a battery and a full tank of gas. Along with anything else we need."

Vernon now had a stern and serious expression on his face after hearing the word Crawford. "Now hold on a minute..."

"Well, we have to try. If these people have what we need, what harm could heading there do?" Doug said agreeing with the plan along with Christa

"Trust me, you don't know these people. I do. And you showing up with a wounded man and a child, might as well hang on noose their heads."

"Christ, what the hell kind of place is this Crawford?" Carley groused in disgust

"The worst kind." Tessa answered grimly. "But there's no other option."

Kenny along with everyone else glanced at Noah. "And just how exactly do you figure we do this?"

"We sneak in undetected using the sewers."

"Good start..." Vernon glanced at Noah. "You wouldn't happen to have a map by any chance, would you?" Noah handed him the map. "I could lead us through so we could pass under the perimeter and right into the center, where they keep their supplies. We come up right under them and take what we need like food and medical supplies."

"We take them by surprise and get what we need."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Molly said with a smirk crossing her face staring at Noah, now looking away. "I mean maybe it'll work."

"Then it's settled, we head there at night." Noah looked at the old doctor. "Vernon, go let your people know."

"I will. Give your people a chance to prepare." Vernon said leaving, while Lee was talking to Clementine on the stairs

"You said you'd need all of us to do this. And you said I'm a big help, remember?" Lee walked away slightly. "Molly said Crawford is the only place in Savannah that has people. Maybe that's' where my mom and dad are."

Noah decided to jump in. "Your parents won't be there, Clem. Crawford's a place of bad people. Your parents are good people. I mean, they raised you right didn't they? Besides, we need you to stay here with Omid."

"What if something bad happens to him while you're gone?"

Lee and Noah were in a difficult position. They both knew she had a point. If they didn't any medical supplies in Crawford, Omid wouldn't be able to get the help he needs. And if Omid got worse, he might turn and attack Clementine. So that left them with one decision, and only one.

"Okay, you can come. But you have to promise to stay quiet and do exactly what you're told the whole time we're there."

"Okay, I'm going to go get ready." Clementine said running away to prepare

"I hope you two are sure being Clementine with you." Noah and Lee turned to see Carley and Tessa

"So do we. We'll keep an eye on her while we there. You just keep an eye on Omid for us while we're gone." Noah said as he hugged his mother while he saw Carley plant a kiss on Lee's cheek

`0`

The group stood ready, prepare to head toward Crawford. In the group was Lee, Kenny, Clementine, Noah, Christa, Molly, Ben and Doug. Carley and Tessa remained behind to watch over Omid for Christa. They find some tools they could use in the shed such as a hatchet and a hacksaw, seeing as it could come in handy for the break-in at Crawford. Noah noticed Kenny and Lee talking for a second but their conversation ended when they saw Vernon walked out the gate with Brie. Vernon told everyone Brie knew the layout on where Crawford keeps their supplies, impling she was once a student there. Everyone was ready to go even Clementine, but the attention of her going cause Vernon to remind their warning of bringing her with them. Lee and Noah stood by what they said and took her anyway, ignoring Vernon's warning. They followed as planned, use the sewers to sneak into Crawford. But, things changed when walkers now occupied the darwinistic place of the survival of the fittest. They made set up at a 1st grade classroom. They split into two people a group while Ben and Doug were choose to get the door open, while Clementine stayed in the classroom with them. Christa went with Vernon to the nurse's station to find meical supplies, while Kenny and Brie went to the maintenance shed to find fuel for the boat with Lee going with them. That lead Noah and Molly to find a battery in the auto shop next door. After climbing up the shelf of a abandoned shed outside, he jumped ahead of the fence making it the auto shop. However, the door couldn't be raised before he scope the area out. By the fence up right of him, there were a group of five walkers groaning.

"Don't want to attract their attention." Noah said moving away from the fence as a falling body hit the ground, catching him of guard. "Jesus!"

"Leave him!" Molly jumped out of nowhere, with Hilda in her hand as she went toward the corpse

"Nice to see you too." Noah deadpanned as he saw Molly kicking and stabbing Hilda at the corpse, her attacks going more aggressively. "Molly?" she still kept hitting the corpse. "Molly!"

Molly stopped glaring at Noah. "WHAT?!"

"I think you got him."

"One more." she said, impaling the pick at the corpse's back

"Judging by those scrubs he must've been a doctor."

"Yeah, well. He ain't shit now!" Molly exclaimed kicking the corpse, now staring at Noah as she took her mask off. "Did you find us a way."

"Yeah, through that garage door but I can't raise it." Noah stated. "I'll need a lift." he explained as Molly took a carjack off from backpack

"How about this?"

Noah smiled. "That'll do." he said as he use the carjack to raise the garage door. "Jackpot! Come on."

Then suddenly, a couple of walkers were moving off the fence. "Shit!" Molly cursed as they went in the auto shop. "Take a look around. I'll make sure no straggler get under this door."

Noah looked around for a battery anywhere in the auto shop, making his first stop to a semi truck in front of him. Unfornately, there wasn't one in sight. Fortunately for him, Noah spotted a var that had a battery atop a hydralic lift. And since there was no power inside Crawford, he had no choice but to puncture the hydralic hose. Unfornately, that caused the car to slam heavily on the ground as the alarm rung that attracted the walkers attention. Noah quickly unscrew the tights on the battery, removing the terminals attached to the car engine. He pick it in Molly's backpack as they jumped on the car, climbing up the semi truck. Noah shoot a window to the skylight as it shattered, leaving Molly to use to climb up while she gave him a hand as they were now on the roof. Both of them leaped to the other side, jumping down a hole that was near where the group was. Molly left to take care of something, taking the battery with him in case the group decided to leave without her. After helping Kenny and Brie keeping the door closed from being opened by walkers and clear the door leading to the nurse's station where Christa and Vernon hid. When they found out what Crawford was doing, they believed Molly was right about the place. Crawford was literally the worst kind. From kicking out children and elderly, to forcing abortions. They looked at Lee found from the walker doctor's corpse that Molly had attacked recently. Apparently, a woman carrying a infant killed the doctor and ran off away from Crawford. No one could blame her, the people at Crawford got what they deserved. Fortunately, they finally found the lock combination as Christa and Vernon got what was needed and headed back to the group with Lee going with them. That left Noah to look a final video as he played it, seeing the doctor from the video zip his pants back up. But his eyes slowly widened when he saw who was with him, Molly.

The doctor went over to the locker, grabbing something as he gave it to Molly. "Listen. As fun as this was, I have to put a stop to this proposition. This is the last I'm giving you."

"Why?"

"Oberson had someone down here yesterday checking inventory, he's cracking down hard. I just can't take the risk."

"We had a deal!" Molly said pointing in a angered tone

"Yes. We 'had' a deal, but now we don't anymore."

"My sister needs this. Without it she'll die. Or worse, she'll start showing symptoms and they'll take here away. I can't let that happen."

"I'm sorry Molly, but I have to look after myself."

"I guess that what it comes too, doesn't it? The Crawford way?" she left, shoving her shoulder at the doctor's arm as she left, with the doctor turning off the camera

"So, that's why you know about this place. That's why you beat the shit out of that walker, is it Molly?" Noah said throwing the tape on the floor. "And what they did to make you leave. This is the worst kind of place." Noah step out of the nurse's station heading back to the group as Molly jumped out. "Jesus, Molly! Stop doing that!"

"Sorry about that. I was sightseeing."

"I'll take battery now."

"Yeah, about that..." Noah's eyes went wide only for Molly to pull the battery out of her backpack. "I'm just kiddin'."

"Very funny." Noah glance at the photo Molly had in her hand. "What's that?"

"Nothing." she answered in hesistation

Noah folded his arms as he showed a stern look on his face. "Molly I know you're from Crawford. I know about the deal you had with the doctor that got turned to a walker. I saw the video."

"I said there were stories about Crawford, I never said that's not how I knew about it. I never lied to you. Even if I did, so what? I don't owe you anything."

"You can save my life twice, but you can't tell me the truth for once?"

"Are we really going to do this now?"

"That'd be up to you, Molly." Noah replied loosening his expression into a calm one

"I used to live here with my sister. She was fourteen years old. When the dead started walking and Crawford shut itself in, it seemed like a pretty good deal at first. We were safe and had everything we needed to survive. Then the rules started coming down. No one who could justify their place, earn their keep. No one who required special care." Molly looked down. "My sister was diabetic, and by Crawford's rules that made her a liability. I kept it a secret, kept it as long as I could. But in the end, I couldn't protect. That's when I got out. Crawford always talked about how their system worked, how anything was better than becoming 'one of them'." she looked at Noah with a look of sorrow on her face. "But I already saw what they'd already become. I just wish I could've seen it before it was too late. Before they took my sister away." Noah wipe the blood off her cheek. "This is all I have left of her." Molly stared at the picture of her sister. "I didn't have to take it before I left. I just... wanted it, okay?"

"It's okay, Molly. I understand what it's like to lose a sibling. She's beautiful." Noah said in a sympathetic tone, remembering the lost of his sister as the bell suddenly rang

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, that's our cue to get the fuck out of here right now." Noah said as him and Molly went to 1st grade where the group was, when Ben jumped out with a hatchet in his hand. "Damn it, Ben!"

"Sorry. I just got spooked by those bells and I got scared."

"Why the hell are you here, man?"

"Kenny sent me to find something to open the door. A key or something to bust it open with." he showed them the hatchet he had in his hand. "I found this?"

Noah quirked his eyebrows at Ben with his eyes slowly going wide. "Ben... where did you find that?" he asked

Ben shrugged. "I just found it, it was stuck on a door in the hallway back there."

"You fucking id-"

The door busted in with walkers heading toward them. Molly took out Hilda, stabbing one of the walkers in the head while she sent another stab under the chin that lead to the brain of another walker. She kicked the one coming toward, along the way struck the walker with her climbing pick Hilda. Then suddenly, she got grabbed by the walker she kicked as Molly shouted for Noah to shoot the walker she was trying to pull away from in the head. A shot impacted on the head as she ran to thank Noah, but it was revealed to be Clementine who shot the walker. They ran back to the 1st grade classroom as Brie closed the door, holding it so the walkers couldn't come in. Kenny was ramming the door along with Doug in order to break it open. Lee told the hatchet from Ben's hand, furiously while Noah slapped him at the back of his head.

"This is my fault... all my fault." Ben panicked

Christa glanced at Lee and Noah. "What's he talking about?"

"Ben, we talked about this." Lee said

"No, wait. I want to know what he meant." Christa glared at Ben. "What do you mean this is all your fault?"

"Kenny, man, I'm so sorry." Ben said in a freaked out tone

"Not really the time, kid! Whatever you did, save it for later!" Kenny yelled while him and Doug tried to bust the door open

"This really isn't the time, Ben!" Noah clashed. "You can tell him when we get back to the house!"

"I'm sorry, he needs to know! He has to." Ben looked at Kenny. "It's been me all along. Putting all of us in danger. Katjaa and Duck. It was all me... it was all me..." he trailed off as Kenny kicked the door, busting it open

"Wait a minute..." Kenny looked at Ben confused expression. "What are you saying?"

"It was me making a deal with the bandits at the motor-inn, slipping them our supplies. I thought maybe I could keep them off our backs. When it got discovered, that's when they attacked. That's when Duck..."

Doug looked in shock as he pointed at Ben. "So you were the one that caused us to-" he was cut off when Kenny tried to pounce on him for telling the truth as Lee, Noah and Vernon held Kenny down

"Kenny, man. I agree with you. You should kick his ass, but now is not the time okay?! We need to focus on leaving!" Lee said, trying to prevent from going nuts

"You fucking pissant! You're fuckin' dead! You hear me?! Dead! My wife and child... you got them both fuckin' killed!" Kenny yelled angrily

"Kenny, you can whoop his skinny little ass later! Right now we need to get out of here!" Noah said to Kenny as he stopped

Molly smirked. "Nice group you got here."

"This ain't the time, Molly." Noah sighed

"If this asshole thinks he's getting on my boat after what'd he did, he's out of his motherfuckin' mind!" Kenny shouted, shoving Ben

"Kenny, we can sort this out later when we get the hell out of here."

"There's nothing to sort out. I just told you the way it's gonna be! The boat's not big enough for all of this. Someone's got to be left behind." Kenny glared at Ben who looked away. "Might as well be this piece of shit right here!"

"I vote we leave him. I'm sorry, Ben. I know you mean well, but all I want to do is get back to Omid and you put that at risk."

"Wait." Clementine step in. "Do I get a vote?"

"Of course you can, Clem."

"Ben's my friend. He's nice. We don't leave friends behind. That's my vote."

Christa paused with a look on his face. "I... I think I'll abstain. Lee? Noah?"

"I abstain too, this isn't the time right now. Plus I've seen the kind of place Crawford is, and that becoming one of them is a worse way to go."

"Me too. I'll vote when we get back. I promise, Clem."

"What about us? Don't we get a say-" Brie was cut off when walkers busted through the door, feashing on her

"Brie!"

Molly cautiously moved away. "Now can we go?"

"Damn right! Vernon, we need to get the hell out of here. NOW."

Lee was the last one to close the door, unfornately he couldn't due to the fact that the lock was broken. There was only a couple of pistol mags inside the locker right of them. They all went downstairs to escape. But as soon as they open the door, walkers had already occupied the way out. Lee slammed as the group went back upstairs, but Lee's foot that caught a broken part of the steps. Walkers almost made their way toward Lee, only to be shot in the head by Noah who kept shooting every walker down between the cranium and lobe. He pulled Lee off the step as they were now making their way up, until a walker almost lunged at them. Luckily, Doug shot it in the head while the group moved up. Hatchet and K-BAR knife struck the head of every walker, kicking one down below along the way. Lee threw the shotgun at Noah as he fired off a walker ahead of them, falling down just like the last one they sent flying. Once at top with the group, everyone already began moving leaving only Lee, Noah and Ben. The bell rung again with a walker tied to it as it grabbed Ben, causing the frightened eighteen year old to start screaming. Lee shot the tied walkers in the head as both it and Ben fell, leaving him to grab on as Lee manage to grab his hand before he fell.

"Come on, Ben! Climb up!"

"Let me go, Lee! There's no time!"

"Ben, quit fucking around and climb up!" Lee shouted shooting a couple of walkers in the head with the shotgun

"Dammit, let go Lee! Go Clem and the others to safety."

Noah looked down. "Lee..." Lee glanced at him. "You have to make a choice! And only you can make it!" he said bashing a walker's head and jaw with the butt of the shotgun he held in his hands

Lee decided to pull Ben up, saving him from the fall. Ben grabbed Lee's hand, prying his hand to his. Ben set his request on his own as he fell down screaming. He landed on his back, leaving some of the walkers to feed on him while the rest tried coming after Lee and Noah. Noah and Lee got down from the roof, taking one last look at the bell tower. Now remembering the sacrifaces that were made in Crawford.

`0`

The group made it back to the house, with Carley and Tessa. Carley told them Omid was going worse as Christa rushed upstairs with Lee, Carley and Clementine followed her and Vernon along with Carley. Tessa knew who was in the group with, leaving the one missing she was the eighteen year old college freshman. Noah told his mother, assuming everyone knew who as well. Kenny went to work on the boat while Christa decided to keep an eye on Omid, with Vernon looking after him too. Doug went downstairs, taking a sip of whiskey still in shock over the revelation Ben revealed back at Crawford. Carley already knew the truth after Lee told her when he came back with Kenny, Clementine, Molly and Tessa. Noah made his way upstairs seeing Lee and Vernon having a talk.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lee asked with him and Vernon noticing Noah behind them

"I know you all care for Clementine. I know you want what's best for her. But this plan of yours putting everyone on a boat? With no destination do you really think that's her best chance of finding somewhere she can be safe? Because I don't. I want to make you an offer."

Noah narrowed his eyes sternly. "What kind of offer?"

"I'll take her off your hands, she'll come with me. Back to my people. We're well supplied, hidden and a lot of us have had kids of our own. And now that Crawford's fallen we've got nothing to fear from them. She'll be safe with us."

"You're coming at us with a lot here Vernon. We have to think about it."

"I understand, of course. Take your time. But I want you to think about somethings." Vernon then left as Lee went over to see Clementine laying on Carley's chest

Noah turned back and saw Molly about to head downstairs. "Molly?" he saw her stop in her tracks. "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm about to head out. I just wanted to say thanks. For everything." Molly smiled at Noah. "It's been fun."

"You should come with us. God knows we could use you. Plus," Noah walked toward Molly, now an inch closer to her. "You've earned it."

"I've been thinking it over. It's not for me. Sounds like It'd be pretty crowded. And I never did like the water."

"You sure about this? What did Tessa have to say?"

"She said it was my choice to pick and I chose. I'm sure. I've always done better on my own anyhow."

"And here I thought I was gonna get a goodbye kiss." Noah joked

"Listen, I'm not much on goodbyes, tell the others for me?"

"Sure. Take care of yourself."

"You too, Noah. Oh, what the hell...?" Molly went to plant her lips on Noah's, pulling out as a sudden smirk crossed his face while she took a step back

Noah remain side tracked on the kiss Molly planted on him. "You sure you don't want to stay?"

"I'm sure. I guess I should be going now. Oh, one more thing..." she took a step and glanced at Noah with a smile on her face. "You be sure to take care of that little girl. You know she thinks the world of you."

"I will. Good luck." Noah said as Molly went downstairs to leave giving him a wink

"Ain't nothing to do with luck."

Noah now made his way in the room where Lee, Carley and Clementine. "H-" he was cut off when he heard Clementine crying as she laid her head buried in Carley's chest. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"What do you think of Vernon's offer?"

"I don't know. I'm still thinking over it. Do I really want to send her Vernon and his people? But still..."

"I know. She crying about Ben?"

"No, no. I told her why Ben did what he did, she understood. She was crying about finding her parents."

"And they're still dead. If Clementine sees them as walkers... I have no idea how she'll take it."

"I agree with you completely." Lee yawned, clearly tired from last night. "I think about getting some shut eye. I guess you're about to do the same?"

"For sure. Later, Lee."

`0`

Noah felt a sudden nudge woke him up. He slowly opened his eyes to see it was Carley who had woke him. Her expression was filled with fear and worry.

"Noah have you seen Clementine?"

"No, what's wrong?"

"We can't find her. Lee and your mother are looking for her outside. Kenny and the others went outside to look for her."

Noah and Carley went outside to find Clementine, but they notice the group by Lee and Tessa. They could see worried looks on their faces as Lee held Clementine's hat in his hand. They also spotted a walker on the pavement, brains smashed due to a curve stomp. That's when Noah saw blood dripping from the ground, looking with wide eyes as his mother Tessa had a bite mark on her left arm.

"No, no, no, no..."

"Noah, Noah!" Tessa said catching her son's attention. "Clementine's been taken."

"By Vernon?"

"We're going to find out. In the meatime, we need you here to keep an eye on the boat while we're gone." Kenny stated

"Lee, I need to-"

"No, you don't kid."

"Kenny-"

"I know! We'll look after your mom for the time she has. But you need to look after the boat while we're gone." Kenny glance at Tessa then back at Noah with a sad look. "We need you to look after the boat while we go look for Clementine. We need you here in cause the fucker on the radio comes here and takes the boat." he looked at Carley who motioned to follow them, while Noah went to look after the boat

Noah growled angrily, kicking a box off the shed. "FUCK! SHIT!" he bang his fists at the table over the fact of his mother being bitten. "Why, dammit! Why now!?" he shouted as he suddenly heard the gate open. "What the hell...?" Noah took the safety off his desert eagle, tooking cover by the door of the shed when he spotted Vernon outside. "Vernon?" Noah step out of cover. "What are you doing here?" Vernon remained silent. "Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry, kid." he said solemnly

Noah quirked his eyebrow at the doctor. "For what?"

"This." then all of a sudden, Noah was knocked on the back of his head as he slowly began to faded into unconsciousness. "I'm sorry, kid. But there's no other choice." Noah heard last before he was finally knocked out unconscious


	5. No Time Left

Chapter 5: No Time Left

Noah woke up groggily, slowly opening his eyes. He saw two people from Vernon's group move the boat out of the shed. His head still rung from the impact, leaving his vision to become a little blurry at the moment. Noah looked down to see his hands and feet tied down in front of him as he struggled to break himself free. He noticed a sharp piece of metal from the gutters as he slowly moved forward to grab it. Then all of a sudden, a foot landed on his chest that prevented him from moving further to the sharpnel. Noah looked up to see one of Vernon's people, Clive holding him down with his foot carrying a lead pipe.

"He's awake." he said, getting Vernon and the others attention

"Vernon... what the... What the fuck...?" Noah trailed off, grunting to struggle free from Clive's hold on him

"I see you're awake, kid." Vernon saw Noah glancing being pulled out of the shed. "I'm sorry about this. I really am."

"Why? Why would you do this?" he asked Vernon. "Why in the hell would you stole this boat from us?"

"Just like you and your group have to survive in this world, we have to do the same." he stated as Boyd was left of Vernon, looking away while he was talking to Noah

"So what?" Noah spat out. "You just beat the shit out of someone that helped you, then take their stuff afterward? I expect better of you."

Vernon's expression furrowed. "I don't expect you to understand, kid. I gotta go what I can for my people." he glanced at Joyce and Clive moving the boat off onto the street. "We're sorry we're leaving you all and Clementine."

Noah's eyes suddenly went wide at the last end of the sentence. "What did you just say?"

"I said I apologize for leaving your group including Clementine."

Noah narrowed his eyes at Vernon. "You don't have Clementine, do you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Vernon replied looking confused

"Lee and the others went to your place to look for. To see if you still have Clementine."

"You lost her?!" Vernon's voice was flled with both anger and worry

"We thought you took her. And if it wasn't you, then..." Noah's eyes went wide in shock. "Oh, shit... the guy on the fucking radio!"

"How could you all lose that girl?!" Vernon shouted furiously

"We don't know what the hell happened." Noah snarled, glaring straight at Vernon. "Once we woke up, we found out she was gone! In the next minute, my mother gets bitten and the group starts looking for you and your group in case you had her. You need to help me find her."

Vernon folded his arms. "So you could lose her again? Not a chance. You've lost that girl and now she's probably dead because of you people."

"You're fucking wrong." Noah growled. "She's still alive. She's still somewhere in Savannah and we will find her. You can believe that. We'll FIND her!"

"I'll hold on to your word for it, kid." Vernon said leaving along with his group and the boat

"Vernon!" Noah grunted, quickly cutting the rope out shackling his hands and feet. "Goddamn it, Vernon! VERNON!"

Noah continued struggling to break himself free from the ropes that bind him. Then suddenly, he heard uncanny moaning leading to be a walker nearby. He went to cutting himself free from the ropes binding him, making progress as he freed his wrists. Noah glanced quickly at the moaning sound as he saw a walker coming out of the gate. He went to cut the bind of rope off his ankles, moving the shattered rope from his feet. Noah stood up as the walker pounced on him, with both of his thumbs pressed on its eyes. Blood inflicted on its eyes as Noah grabbed the sharpnel he used to cut himself, striking the walker's head multiple times upon killing it. Noah looked at his scratched and near bloodied hand from the sharpnel he used as he went inside, pouring whiskey down his cut hand to disinfect the scratch. He wrapped a bandage on his right hand, covering the wound from being further infected. Afterward, he grabbed a cleaver in one of the drawers in the kitchen along with Chuck's magnum he hid with it. Noah loaded the gun and left the house, on a search to find Vernon's group or Vernon himself if he had the boat.

`0`

Noah was following the tire tracks that carried the boat, hoping it would lead him straight to Vernon. For Vernon, he could either be at the docks or has the boat hidden away in a garage somewhere. He kept his eyes on the tire tracks while keeping an eye on any walkers down the road, holding the cleaver in his hand in order to avoid using the magnum. From Noah's experience, he knew if he fired off a shot it will attract walkers. Then all of a sudden, he heard groaning along with a couple of gunshots be heard. He took cover by a wall, seeing twelve walkers in the boatyard as he saw Vernon fired off shots. But he didn't see anyone else from his group so it was only him.

"There's Vernon, but I don't see the rest of the group."

"Vernon!" Noah turned to the attention, seeing Vernon's group trapped with Vernon side glancing them while he was on the boat. "Help us! Don't leave us behind, Vernon!"

"Vernon, we need you!"

"Please, Vernon! Help us!"

Suddenly, he heard another gunshot fired which wasn't Vernon. He cocked his head to find Vernon's group, trying to defend themselves from walkers as well. He could hear them yelling for Vernon to help them which manage to catch his attention for a short moment, only for him to look away leaving with the boat. Noah had two choices at that instant. Stop Vernon from leaving the docks with the boat, or save his group from the walkers. He speedily calculated this in his head. If he stopped Vernon from taking the boat after leaving his group behind, they would die. If he wanted to save the group, Vernon would leave with the boat heading off to shore. Noah looked left and right, trying to come up with a decision to make in the crisis he was currently. Stop Vernon and take the boat back, or save the group Vernon himself left behind. After a moment of pause, he went toward the walkers approaching up on Vernon's group as he hack and slash the walkers using the cleaver he found in the kitchen back at the house his group stayed at. Noah pulled out the magnum firing off two shots, shooting a couple of walkers in the head. He ran firing four more shots, every walker shot in the head as he began to reload. Noah rushed toward Vernon's group, motioning them to leave as one of them Boyd nodded his head in reply. Boyd lead his group away from the walkers, which Vernon fled away on the boat he took from the shed. Noah narrowed his eyes as he saw the boat leaving with Vernon, but in the distance noticed Vernon wasn't alone. A walker appeared from behind as it sunk its teeth at Vernon's neck, blood suddenly started piling in dripping down below. The boat was accelerating at an alarming rate, heading straight for a rock lodge close by. The boat crashed with both dead, fire coming from the engine as the boat exploded. Noah suddenly heard footsteps as he cautiously readied his cleaver while he turned, only to find out it was Boyd.

"What didn't you leave with the others?"

"I decided to thank you before we leave and apologize." Boyd stated. "As soon as Vernon convinced us that we take a getaway on your boat, we thought about our survival to leave Savannah. But after that," Boyd looking away in shame. "Vernon left us with he started up the boat to abandon us. It seems he was out for the boat the entire time."

"Yeah, looks like he didn't get what he deserved." Noah huffed, then glanced at Boyd. "What will you now?" he asked Boyd

"Leave Savannah, I guess. We find someplace else to go to." Boyd replied when a bell suddenly rung that lead walkers toward the direction of the noise. "Good thing they're not coming toward us."

"Must be Molly or..." Noah paused as he ran, heading back at the house. "Good luck, Boyd! You'll need it."

"You too, kid..." Boyd yelled back. " You too."

`0`

Noah made it back to the house, panting as he began to catch his breathe. Rubbing off the sweat in his forehead as he spotted the group. He still saw Lee, Carley, Kenny and Doug along with Christa and Omid. His mother was still with him as well for all the time she had left, but her left arm was saw off. Possibly to cut off the infection which Noah hoped for. But when Noah went closer, his mother's skin slowly started to turn pale. Leading that the infection was still in her after her arm was cut off. Tessa noticed her son walking toward him as she went forward, hugging her son with her only arm.

"Oh, thank god. I thought..." Tessa let go of the embrace, now showing a worried look on her son Noah. "What happened?"

"What happened to you? Your arm..." Noah pointed at his mother's missing arm

Tessa slightly looked away. "I thought if I saw off my arm I would be spared from the infection. Looks like I was wrong."

"Noah, what the hell happen to the boat?" Kenny spoke breaking the conversation between mother and son

"It blew up, Kenny. While you guys were away, Vernon with his group knocked me out and took it."

Kenny had a angered look on his face. "I don't fuckin' believe this! The invalids?!" his tone filled with sudden anger

"Their actions contradict your characterizations. But yeah, it was the invalids." Omid said

"Omid's right. It was Vernon that took the boat and knocked my out." Noah said nervously judging by how furious Kenny became. "Seems like he was in it for the boat the whole time while you all were away."

"Did they have Clementine?" Carley asked Noah

"No, they didn't. Vernon was pretty pissed when he found out we didn't have her with us." he stated. "Asshole started to blame us for it."

"God fuckin' dammit! Fuck! I'm gonna kill him!" Kenny roared with rage

"I'm pretty sure a walker already beat you to it, dude." Omid muttered in dry humor as Kenny walked out

Lee made his way toward Noah. "So he didn't have Clementine when he came here?"

"No. Which means that guy on the radio might have her."

"What do we do after we find Clementine?" Noah asked the rest of the group except for Kenny and Doug

"Head for a small town that's trying to rebuild or the countryside." Tessa said. "Walkers would hardly be in the woods. Take Clementine and head to either one."

Christa showed a soften expression. "Look I agree with you on heading countryside, it being a good place for her to be." Christa frowned. "But you're not dead yet. So put a pin in it."

Tessa chuckled weakly. "You're not realistic, are you?"

"Hey, I mean it. You're not dead yet. You still have time." Christa side glanced at Noah. "And you still have him. A mother should be there for their child until she passes."

"Sounds like someone becoming a mother herself." Tessa chimed as Christa's eyes were suddenly wide

"How did you..." Christa trailed off as Tessa cut her off

"A woman knows if another is pregnant. Call it..." Tessa paused glancing at Christa. "a mother's intuitive instinct."

"I pretty much knew too." Noah said glancing at Christa. "The way you were puking a couple days ago. And there was also that sonogram back at Crawford from the nurse's station. The look on your face was a dead give away."

"What did you say?!" Kenny's voice shouted

"I'm saying we need to calm down here, Kenny." Doug stated calmly. "There could be somewhere else to go. After we find Clementine."

"Where the hell do you expect us to go?"

Doug shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, maybe the countryside like Christa suggested? Walkers hardly stay in the mainland. Most of them are always in the cities. Nothing's changed, Kenny."

"Nothing's changed!" Kenny exclaimed. "Look what happened! Noah's mom gets bit, the guy on the radio still fucking with us and the boat's gone!"

"Hey, calm down alright? We know-" Kenny cut Omid off

"The hell -"

"ENOUGH!" everyone turned their attention to Noah. "We find Clementine. That's it." Noah glanced at Kenny. "Aside from the boat being taken, I know you're still pissed Kenny. Pissed that Ben got Katjaa and Duck killed..." he trailed as Kenny prepared to speak, but got caught off by Noah. "No, you listen this time! You're not the only one who has it rough. Lee's family is gone, so is everyone else. When I talked to Ben, he said he still had family left. A mom, a dad, and a little sister. But worst of all, there was a point where he didn't even know if they were still alive, dead, walkers or worse. He told me you were lucky that you said goodbye to your wife and kid. You remember how they died, but he still doesn't if they're out here before Ben died and I don't know how much time my mom has before she turns. So for the sake of everyone, give it a fucking break already!"

"Jesus, Ben. I didn't know..." Kenny trailed off, looking down not aware of the pain Ben felt before he died back at Crawford

"You guys hear that?" Omid inquired as walkers were head nearby. "Shit, everybody inside!"

Everyone went inside the mansion, hearing the sound of walkers trying to get in. Feeling it was his rise to lead the group, Noah told Christa to get upstairs as his mother went to help her. Kenny and Carley went to look for weapons to use, while Doug and Lee moved the furiture to barricade the mansion. But as soon as he saw Omid's shocked expression, he yelled for everyone to rushed toward the front doors in order to help Omid. Noah's foot was grabbed as he kicked a walker a few times, tearing out a hand while Lee cut the hands off of walkers trying to get inside. Unfornately, they break free from the living room as everyone went upstairs after Noah and Lee shot a couple in the head. Once upstairs, the group armed themselves with their pistols as they make their last stand. They checked to see how much ammo they had left. Lee had four, while Carley and Noah had six. Tessa and Doug had three bullets left, while Kenny and Christa had five. They timed their shots, aiming every walker in the head as Tessa looked up to see the attic. She opened it and went up along with everyone else in the group, leaving Lee to close the attic door shut.

Once they remained trapped in the attic, Noah started looking for a way. Somewhere the walkers couldn't find the group. When they heard Clementine's and that was located in the Marsh house, they realized there was still hope in finding her.

"Before we think of a way to get to Clem," Kenny paused as he glanced at Tessa and her missing arm. "I think we need to have a talk about our urgency."

Noah quirked his eyebrow suspicious at Kenny. "What are you saying?"

"This could be a Larry situitation." Kenny looked at Tessa. "Do you think that worked? Think that stopped it?"

"I... I don't know." Tessa said looking Kenny in the eye

"Now hold on-" Noah was cut off by Kenny

Kenny stared pacing back and forth. "I'm sorry, Noah. I really am, but there might be a possibility that she'll turn."

"God dammit, Kenny! This is my mother we're talking about!" Noah objected, refusing what Kenny was thinking to closing the situitation regarding Noah's mother

"Kenny, you know what to do if she turns. We can't afford to panic right now!" Lee stated, pleading for Kenny to take calm

"We still can't take that risk, Lee. This needs to be done, right NOW."

Noah glared straight at Kenny, crossing his arms. "What if this was you bitten and Duck was kidnapped instead?"

Kenny glared at Noah. "What the hell do you get off-"

"If this were you, would you want us to shot you off before you turn? What if this was Lee in my mother's position and he will searching for Clementine?". Noah walked toward the head vase, leaving Kenny to look away after Noah pointed if he was in the position being bitten instead of his mother. "So stop whining about it for fuck's sake. You know what to do when someone's bitten. But my mother's not turning yet. So enough already." grabbed a head vase angrily. "We are NOT doing that!" he yelled throwing the head vase toward a wall, making a weakened crack in the process

"You totally messed up that dude's face." Omid joked

"Shut up, sweetie." Christa said quickly

"What the hell?" Noah slammed a lamp toward a wall that had a weak spot. "Heh. This wall ain't shit."

Fortunately there was another mansion attached to the one they were in as each of them took turns into breaking down. Kenny brought back memories of what happened since the outbreak. How they stayed in the motor-inn, and the sudden mention of Lily and Larry. How they had to leave Lily's father behind and left Lily behind after she shot Ben's friend Travis. After they made it out of the other mansion they scurry above the building through make-shift bridges that lead to every roof. Things went south as Christa was trapped in a building above them, leaving Kenny and Doug to give her a boost. They both sacrifaced themselves to save Christa while they noticed the Marsh house was a couple blocks ahead. There was a support beam that was lead them on the other side of Savannah, a couple blocks near the Marsh house. Since Christa was walking for two and Omid's leg was still healing, Noah along with Tessa walked over the support as mother and son hack and stab walkers heading toward them, while walker blood sprayed on their clothes making their way to the Marsh house.

Inside, Noah and Tessa made their way to a open hotel room as they noticed two dead walkers on the floor. That's when Noah realized they were Clementine's parents, suddenly remembering the picture while he found her and Lee that one-time when the outbreak started. He also noticed her hat on the dresser as Noah went to grab it, but the sound of a gun click stopped him. Him and Tessa turned around slowly as they were held at gunpoint by a scrawy caucasian man wearing a brown coat and khalis. The stranger motioned his gun to have both of them sit on the couch. Clementine was inside the room with them as well, with the stranger carrying the gun to ask for silence. Noah kept wondering who this guy and he would hold some sort of grudge to the group. That's when the stranger remained him of a station wagon that had food and supplies, something that was needed to survive as Noah's eyes widened with shock. The stranger he was talking to was the owner of the station wagon. The stranger told his life. About him being a father coaching little league, how he got his son killed which left his wife to take her and their daughter away.

"You left her in the hands of those farmer maniacs." he stated coldly, recalling the encounter with the St. John's

"We didn't even know they were cannibals." Noah said quickly. "If we known sooner, we wouldn't even be there."

"You left a grieving woman out on the road." the stranger replied mention the group leaving Lily which made Noah glare at him

"You weren't fucking there. And she deserved it for shooting that kid in cold blood." Noah huffed. "So how about you tell me how the hell you even knew about us."

The stranger simply smiled as he sat the walkie-talkie down on the coffee table, along with a small note as Noah's eyes went wide. Clementine had told the stranger everything that happened to the group after they took everything from the station wagon. And most of all, the letter he left out unknown to everyone else in the group.

"My wife found the note you left behind. It was hidden in the glove compartment, your camp in that motor-inn. I thought it could be a trap and told her that it was dangerous," the stranger looked away with a grim look. "But she said it was more dangerous for her and our daughter to be with me. So she took our daughter to find the travelier motor-inn across Macon. I found them the next day, dead."

Noah narrowed his eyes at the stranger. "What happens now?"

"You're a thug and a thief. And I'm going to end you and her so badly." the stranger declared as they both saw the door open quietly behind. "We'll be ready to go in a minute, sweetie." the stranger looking down on a bowling bag, which showed the head of a dead walker. Presuming his wife. "It's almost over."

"Just about." Tessa said, using her eyes to tell Clementine to grab the knife laiding on the dresser with her and Noah's gear. "It will be over soon."

While the stranger was occupied talking to his dead wife, Clementine stabbed the stranger in the shoulder as Noah pounced on him. Tessa went to help her son, only to fell on her knees as the stranger shot her in the stomach. The stranger was pointing his gun at Noah's face as Noah twisted his hand, which made the stranger to toss the gun away near the dresser. The stranger went toward it until Noah violently tackled him to the closet, choking the stranger with both his hands. Only rage was unleashed on Noah as he started choking the man's life, only for the stranger to tackle him on the ground strangling Noah back. It all ended as the stranger was shot in the head, killing him as Noah looked to see it was Clementine that killed him frightened. Tessa made her way toward her son and Clementine who dropped the gun in sudden fear

"I...I..." Clementine paused with tears in her eyes as she cried while Tessa hugged her with her right arm, calming her down

"I know, I know." Tessa cooed. "It's okay, Clementine. It's okay." she said as the nine year old noticed Tessa's skin getting paler as she was close to being a walker. "It's wasn't your fault."

"You're hurt!" Clementine exclaimed with a sad look, noticing a gun wound on Tessa's stomach as she bleed from the gun wound

"I know, sweetie." Tessa replied as Lee and Carley made it to the room where they spotted the three along with Clementine's kidnapper. "It's over."

Noah made his way to the door. "Alright, let's go and-" Noah was cut as a walker was standing in front of him, but it only stood now noticing Lee, Carley and Clementine. Noah quickly pushed the walker on the floor and shot it in the head. "What the..."

"You're covered in that muck." Carley said, pointing at Noah's clothes. "It didn't even read you. They can't see you when you're covered in walker blood."

"It's the muck. That's how we get out of Savannah!"

"Your four are getting out." they turned to see Tessa laying on the wall, with her hand on her bleeding wound. "It's already too late for me."

Noah crouched down toward his mother. "No, no! It's not too late! I won't let it be!"

"Noah... I'm already near the end." Tessa said sadly. "Once I'm gone, I'll turn and hurt you and them." she looked at Lee and Carley. "I need one of you to shot in the head. Prevent me from turning. I still want to die while I'm a human before I go."

"No, no... NO! Dammit I can't lost you!" Noah shouted, looking down as a tear streamed down his face with Tessa placing a hand on her son's shoulder

"It doesn't matter. All that mattered was I get to see you again before I go. Noah..." Tessa paused, wincing in pain as Lee went over to them as Carley comfort Clementine witnessing her dead parents

"Noah, you know there's no other way." Lee stated sadly. "I'm sorry. We have to give her mercy. Give her peace."

Noah looked at him with another tear streaming down his face, wiping it away. "I... I don't know what to say right now. I really don't."

"My little boy has become a brave man." Tessa said as she reached down under to pull out a necklace she wore. "I want you to have this. For good luck now that mine's worn out."

"I'll miss you." Noah said hugging her one last time

"I know. And I will always love you. I'm so proud of you. To see the son I raised and to the young man you have become." Tessa hugged back as she nod her head for Lee to pull the trigger after Noah let go and looked away. "Thank you."

Lee nodded as he shot Tessa in the head, closing her eyes. "Rest in peace, Tessa Rivera. You were a good woman." he looked at Noah along with Carley and Clementine. "Noah I'm..."

"I know, alright?" Noah said looking away, with his voice slowly breaking as he did not look at his mother's corpse. "Let's just... let's just go."

`0`

Lee was standing beside a tree, leaning his back as he stared at Carley with Clementine on her lap sleeping. She looked at Lee then at Noah who held his survival book in his hand. He gave it one last look as he threw it on the ground, with Clementine opening her left eye spotting the small notebook. Noah looked at his mother's locket necklace, staring at it as he put it on his neck. That's when Lee noticed two people off in the distance, narrowing his eyes to get a better look at whom the figures were. He walked to Carley and Clementine after Noah noticed as well, being the first to move toward the two figures.

"Clementine? Time to wake up." Carley said as the nine year old got up from Carley's lap, staring at the Noah's survival notebook. "It's time to get moving, honey." Clementine nodded her head as Carley and Lee went toward Noah and the two people, with Clementine grabbed the notebook and putting it in her jacket pocket as she ran toward the others


	6. All that remains

**AN: Alright, everyone! This is the start of Season 2 episode of Telltale's Walking Dead. I will also include Vince from the 400 days dlc and a few of the supporting cast in the chapter. As always, please review and enjoy!  
**

Chapter 6: All that remains

One year later

A crow flew by in the sky, soaring through the woods of northern Georgia. Clementine looked up staring at the sky for a moment, wearing a blue hoodie and in the same sundress leaving her legs to be covered in the same dark stockings and black shoes she wore. She still kept the hat her father gave her along with Noah's survival notebook in her backpack. Lee's appearance had changed as well as Carley's, including Christa and Omid. Lee wore a black jacket with a blue collared shirt underneath, with khali pants and hiking shoes. His hair still the same, leaving his stubble beard to be full grown rough beard. Carley was wearing a purple puffer vest with a yellow dress shirt. Underneath was a white longsleeve shirt and blue jeans, leaving her hair to be still cut over the shoulders while she wore hiking boots. Noah wore a dark green hoodie jacket with a black longsleeve shirt underneath which had a white vertical line, along with brown cargo pants and black coverse shoes. His hair was a grown fade cut, leaving a stubble on his face. Christa was seven months pregnant wearing a dark grey longsleeve windbreaker and jeans, crouching beside Omid. Omid scope the area of a restroom right ahead of them with a rifle, his light stubble changed to a beard.

"What do you think?" Omid asked

"Omid, you can't be serious." Christa chimed in disbelief

"I am." Omid said chuckling as Christa stood up

"We are NOT doing that." she replied as Lee, Carley, Clementine and Noah followed behind them

"Why not?"

"Because!" Christa exclaimed

"Come on, Christa. What's wrong with Omid?"

"We're not calling our baby Omid. One of you is enough." Christa mocked as she glanced back at the others with a grin. "Guys, a little help here?"

"Omid the second." Omid declared

"No."

"Omid jr?"

"No!"

"You have to admit, it has a ring to it."

"What if it's a girl?" Clementine asked

"Then we name her Christa." Omid answered

"Oh, hell no. There's already enough of both of you as it is." Lee joked. "Besides, it'll probably be more confusing for the baby."

"And my name's Christa. It'd be too weird." Christa pointed out

Omid shrugged his arms while carrying the rifle in his hands. "So name her Genivise. I don't care."

"How could you not care?" Christa rolled her eyes. "You're not taking any of this, seriously."

"I take everything seriously." Omid pointed at the bump on her stomach. "Especially in little Omid's future."

Carley chuckled. "Better buckle up, Omid."

"Keep talking and you'll be sleeping in the rain tonight." Christa chuckled. "Remember that time in Barstow?"

"Vegas weekend." Omid said as Christa smiled while she went in the men's room. "Why don't you guys get cleaned up in the women's room?"

"I hope a sink works in there." Lee said. "Hopefully, some water along the way."

"I wouldn't count on it." Omid doubted. "Just be careful to keep track of your things. We'll be right next door."

"I'll scout the area out." Noah said solemnly as he was now taking point with Carley glancing at Lee

"You should go check on him, Lee. It's been a year since..." she paused glancing at Noah as he scouted the perimeter of the rest area. "you-know-what. You know, what happened to his mother back in Savannah."

"Maybe he's finished mourning." Lee implied. "He seems perfectly fine, Carley."

"But you know he hasn't talked about his mom after her death." Carley stated. "Everyone's worried about him."

"He won't budge, Carley. I've done all I can. You even know he-"

"Lee..." she trailed off, giving Lee a hard glare which made feel unease

"Okay, fine. I'll go talk to him." Lee said in mock surrender to his then girlfriend now wife as he was making his way to Noah who scoped the area around. "Noah, do you mind if I talk with you?"

"What about, Lee? I'm trying to see if this place is secure." Noah said, eyes focusing on making sure if the rest stop was secure

Lee folded his arms together. "I can talk to you while we do this. It's important, Noah."

"Fine." Noah sighed in defeat while he looked left and right in the distance. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Mainly, it's about you." Noah quirked his eyebrow at Lee in confusion, wondering what he meant. "I mean, it's been a year since your mother died. And you still haven't talked about it since then." Noah still kept his attention to the area he continued to scope, ignroing Lee as he kept talking. "It's not just Christa and Omid, we're all worried about you. Including Clementine. She thinks that it was her fault." Lee stated, leaving Noah to look a bit shocked what Lee told him as he stopped. "She blames herself for your mother's death."

Noah had a mixture of confusion and grief on his face. "What would she think that? She wasn't to blame for what happened. It was..." his voice trailed off, looking away as he grasp the necklace of his mother. "Mine. I'm the one that caused the guy on the radio to find us and kidnap Clementine. I left that letter in his station wagon. My mother's blood is on my own hands, Lee."

"No, it's not." Lee said. "It was his hands, the guy on the radio. Don't you ever think it was your fault. You're not to blame and SHE wouldn't want you thinking that."

"I get what you're saying, Lee. I do, really. But..." Noah's voice trailed off as he saw someone, a young woman heading inside the women's restroom. "I saw someone go inside. Looked like a girl in her late teens I think."

"You are sure?" Lee asked. "Maybe it was Christa."

"No, that girl was three inches shorter than Christa and two inches shorter than Omid. Come on." Noah and Lee sprinted toward the door, where they saw Omid about to enter the women's room. Noah grabbed Omid by the shoulder, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Leave the door open. We got this." he whispered as Lee took a left out car mirror that laid on the ground, catching a glimpse of Clementine and Carley being held at gunpoint. The bandit was a African-American girl in her late teens, using Clementine's own gun.

"Drop the gun." Lee demanded calmly as the bandit turned around, keeping the gun pointed at Lee. "Just drop the gun and let them go."

the bandit kept the gun aimed at Lee while she held Carley and Clementine hostage. "Why should I?"

"Because you're outnumbered. It's six of us against you. Even you're not stupid enough to pull off a stunt like this." the bandit held Carley at gunpoint, then pointed the gun at Clementine's face. "Be smart about this. If you don't, we'll be forced to shoot you. Just walk away and leave us alone. We're giving you a chance to walk away free."

the bandit in her late teens scoffed. "You're bluffing. I'll pop this bitch's head off right now." she glared shoving the gun at Clementine. "Even this little girl if I have to."

Noah jumped in angrily. "Do it and I'll fucking shoot you in the legs. Along with crippling your arms so you won't be able to even crawl. After that, I'll let the walkers deal with you once you're stranded. Let them eat on your worthless crippled body as you scream." he threatened. "You don't want to fuck with us. Especially me, you little bitch." Noah stood out the door as the bandit pointed Clementine's gun at him. "So I'm going to count to three and you better let both of them go." they both glared at each other. "One." Noah walked closer, with Clementine cautiously watching. "Two." the bandit clicked the safety off as she kept the gun aiming at Noah. Before Noah could say three, Clementine bit the bandit girl on her hand, leaving the bandit to throw Carley aside and pistol whip Clementine in the head. "Three!" he grabbed the bandit and smashed her to the restroom mirror, sliting her throat as she died bleeding while everyone stared in shock with him panting. "We're gonna have to look for another place to stay this time." he glanced at Carley who was patting down the bruise on Clementine's cheek with a cloth. "Are you okay, Clementine?"

"Yes." she said as Carley finished cleaning the bruise off of her cheek

"That's good. Let's get a move on."

After a fourty minute walk, the group spotted a gas station diner joint. The name of the diner and gas station was called Gil's pitstop. Noah kept his hands on the crossbow, aiming the weapon left and right while Lee and Carley scope the area with him. They noticed a painting portrait right by, giving a view of the sun and grassland. There were also plants hanging on top of the fuel tanks, with a few of the plants getting darker and looking nearly brittle weakened. That's when Omid noticed three corpses left of him and Christa, leaving one of them to be a man in a biker jacket. Lee, Carley and Noah made their way to them, staring at the corpses themselves. Filled with bullets on the chest, with a head shot dead center along with one in each eye. They didn't realized the biker, but the other two looked suddenly familiar to Noah. He crouched and stared at their faces as his eyes slightly went wide, finally remembering who the two elders were. They were the cancer survivors from Vernon's group, Clive and Joyce.

"Shit, it's them." Noah placed his hand on his forehead rubbing his temple. "Joyce and Clive."

"You know who these people are?" Carley inquired, staring at the dead bodies of the cancer survivors with Clementine behind her and Lee

Noah sighed as he stood up. "Yeah, I know who the elders were except for that biker guy laying over there. They were those cancer survivor patients back at Savannah last year in that bunker. They were in Vernon's group."

everyone's eyes went shocked, leaving Lee to finally speak. "Are you sure they were from Vernon's group? The same group that took the boat and the same that Vernon left behind back in Savannah?"

"The same one." Noah stated sadly. "After I saved them in Savannah, Boyd mentioned they were going somewhere else. Away from Savannah when it became walker-infested."

Christa glanced around the rest of the corpses, walkers presuming. "Do you think his corpse is here too?"

Noah turned to Christa. "No, these three were lined up and killed firing squad style. Type of execution that would happen in a military where deserters would be shot down. A prison even. It doesn't look like Boyd was with them though. Meaning he probably escaped before whoever it was could kill him to."

"This is so fucked up." Omid groused in shock and disgust. "What kind of sick bastard would do something ilke this? This is worser than bandits."

"I don't know." Noah shrugged wondering himself. "We should check to see if there's any supplies left in this place. And if this place is secure enough for us ."

"I agree with you." Lee said, looking down as he stared at the dead corpses of Joyce and Clive. "In the meantime, we should bury these three. We can also stay here for the time being."

"Sounds like a plan." Christa agreed, glancing at the vegatable garden ahead of them. "We could eat using that vegatable garden for food. We could sleep in that diner too."

Lee and Noah along with Omid dragged the corpse to a few dug out holes, burying the bodies of Clive, Joyce and the unknown biker guy Roman in the ground. Noah mentioned Lee and Omid to help Carley and Christa search the diner for any supplies, food, weapons and ammo laying around. Noah glanced at the two corpses of Joyce and Clive, already beginning to bury them in their graves.

`0`

Sixteen months later.

Lee and the others were out in the cold carolina winds, leaving only a medium shine of heat from the campfire they had. The fire was getting dull, leaving little light in the campfire. Lee, Clementine, Carley and Noah along with Omid still had the same clothing. Lee was now 39 and Carley was 32 years old. Noah was now 23 years old since the months past in the group. Christa on the other hand was wearing a light tan jacket with a white hoodie underneath when her and Omid met Lee and the group since she was no longer pregnant. She stared quietly at the campfire, remembering the death of her child eight months after birth. Clementine on the other hand was reading at Noah's survival tip book since she was pondered by what he wrote and was now 11 years old. She was currently wearing a purple shirt with a striped longsleeve underneath and grey jeans. Cold winds blew the pine trees, the leaves rustling as they were disturbing loomed in the air.

"It's cold." she said rubbing her arms while holding the book in her hand

"Wait til we reach Wellington, then you can tell me." Christa said with no emotion as she stared at the campfire

"Christa, do you want to talk about-" Omid was cut off

"No. I don't want to talk about it." Christa hissed, then calm down a moment later

"We're gonna have to talk about it eventually, Christa." Omid said firm and serious

"I SAID I don't want to talk about it!" she growled, shouting now seeing the look on Omid's face. "I'm going to look for more firewood."

"I'll be right with you in a minute." Omid said, glancing at the others

Noah sighed. "She still hate me for it?"

"She's doesn't blame you, kid. Just give her time." Omid looked away. "We didn't see what was coming. We couldn't save Toby in time after what happened." he stated sadly remembering the death of his eight month son. "We'll be right back, you guys."

"Christa's still taking it hard. I'm really worried about her." Carley said concerned

"We're all worried about her too, Carley." Lee replied, expressing his concern as well. "Maybe we should go help them. You know, look for firewood and food beside that weasel and those squirrels we got cooking."

"Alright then. Let's help them out." Carley asked as her and the others went to help Christa and Omid, with Clementine taking her backpack with her while they left. "Where do you think they are?"

"They couldn't have gotten that far ahead. In the meantime, we look for firewood that hasn't water-" Noah was cut off when he heard distant shouting up ahead of him and the others

"WHERE'S THE REST OF YOUR GROUP, BITCH?!" a voice shouted a distance ahead of the others as they went to investigate

"We're by ourselves! It's just us!" Christa's voice suddenly spoke, with Lee and Noah along with Carley and Clementine to take cover by the bushes as they spotted Omid and Christa being held

"What a buncha bullshit! There's no way it's just you two fucks!"

"Lee, what do we do? We have to help them!"

"I know, Carley!" Lee whispered, agreeing with Carley. "Maybe we can distract them while Christa and Omid make a break for it."

Noah held a rock in his hand. "I already got that covered." he aimed at the head of one of the bandits surrending Christa and Omid, throwing it up aside the bandit's head. "Omid, Christa, run for it!"

Lee and Carley ran for it, with Noah gripping Clementine's arm tightly following them. They ran quickly through the distant gunshots that rung their ears as they kept pushing forward. But while they were running, Clementine and Noah didn't catch a glimpse of Lee and Carley in front of them as they came to a halt. Noah could hear the sound of water thunderous crashing as they stopped near at a small cliff that the river hung below of, with Clementine and Noah panting for breath. All of a sudden, Noah felt a shearing pain by the back of his head and his knees collided with the ground. His vision was terribly blurring as he heard Clementine yelled and a male's voice shouting as well. Clementine struggled in the arms of one of the men as his angered face glared at her.

"You're getting on my fucking nerves, you little brat!" he spat

"Back the fuck of off her, you shithead!" Noah yelled charging as Clementine bit the man holding her captive thumb off, her white teeth being stained with the man's bloodied thumb while he dropped her on the ground. "Clem, get out of the way!" Noah tackled the man as the man let go of Clementine's backpack, while Noah and the man struggled on the ground. "Run. Now, Clementine!"

Clementine ignored Noah and shot the man in the ear with her gun, causing him to touch the missing chunk of his ear. Noah punched the man in the nose as a walker appeared out of nowhere, biting the man's neck with another feasting on his flesh. Another walker almost approached Clementine as she shot it in the head, pinpoint accurate to the center of its brain before strapping her backpack on. Noah made his way to her as both of them were surrounded by walkers, with Noah glancing down at the river below them.

"We have to jump!"

"What?!"

"Jump!" Noah grabbed Clementine and jump down into the thunderous raging water below, with the roar of the river silencing their screams

`0`

Clementine slowly regained her consciousness, her vision becoming clearer as she blinked a few times. She stared at her hands that laid in front of her on the ground. The feel of her clothes being damp and cold as they sticked to her skin in a wet and gross manner. She groaned and coughed out a small bit of water, lifting her head slowly to her backpack still intact while she looked at where the river had carried both her and Noah. Her bright hazel amber eyes darting around the shores in search of finding Noah.

"Noah, Noah!" she called out as Clementine heard a groan reaching her ears, with her moving toward it. She pushed until she spotted Noah lying on the ground. "Noah! Please, wake up! Please!"

Noah's eyes slowly opened as he saw Clementine. "Clem? Is it morning already? How long have I been out?"

Clementine let out a small laugh from her mouth as she smiled to see he was okay. "I don't know. I was the first one to gain counsciousness." she said while Noah slowly stood up from the ground. "I didn't see Lee and Carley or Omid and Christa here when I woke up."

"They're probably not that far ahead." Noah replied, glancing at Clementine. "Can you still walk?" he asked as she nodded her head. "Alright, let's get moving."

Noah and Clementine spotted a ruined boat that was half-beached on a jutting pole of wood, completely in no shape of use. Clementine's eyes gazed over a broken walkway above them, walking over to it slowly. Clementine leaped and gripped onto the walkway tightly, struggling to pull her thin body up as Noah gave her a boost up before jumping up herself. The two walked down to the that cut through the forest. The pine trees gazing down at them as they stalked cautiously along the gravelly path, eyes scanning every bush and tree for any signs of danger being close. The air eerily quieted as all wild life had gone down from the earth.

"Clem, you still have your gun?" Noah asked Clementine

her eyes widened as she realized the absence of her weapon. "No... I must have lost it in the river when we were being dragged in."

"Then we have to be pretty damn careful." Noah said back in a cautious tone as crows suddenly burst from a nearby bush. "Damn birds!" he scowled

Then suddenly, he saw Clementine stare something past her behind a few bushes. He held a hand in front of her and moved forward slowly and quietly, his hand pushing th bushes to the side as he stared at a creature. He was ready for anything that would jump on her, but to his surprise it was a couple of dogs with both of them skinny in comparison that was rummaging through the bushes for food. The thin and skinny one was a laborder, while the other one was a siberian husky.

"It's just a couple of dogs." he chimed in relief

The two dogs spun around quickly and growled at the man and girl, the former glaring at both of them.

"Hey, hey, hey. No. No." Noah said stern and sternly at the dogs

The dogs listen to Noah and sat down, their expressions shifting from aggressive to plain curiousity suddenly. Noah calmed a little and glanced at the collar wrapped around both of the dog's neck, with Clementine reading out the names engraved on the metal tags.

"Sam." she read aloud staring at the skinny laborder, then shifted her gaze at the siberian husky. "Milly. How are you two doing?"

Both dogs barked in respone and Clementine glanced at Noah. "Looks like these two been on their own. Probably trying to look for food." she said as both dogs sniffed their hands. "What do you think?"

"Let's see if we have scrounge up some while we look for the others."

Sam responded to the question by barking and running off through the bushes, leaving the two and the siberian husky Milly behind to follow it. Shrugging to Clementine, Noah and her quickly followed the dog with Milly hot on their trail as they pushed through the thicket in attempt to keep following Sam. They saw stting a fwew feet in front of them as they spotted an abandoned campsite around him, with the dog barking again. Noah spotted a walker tied to a tree with its arm cut off while Clementine rose her finger to her lips, quieting the dog Sam. She began to look around as she moved over to the broken van, spotting everything ransacked by scavengers and bandits after noticing only a picture of Sam and Milly along with their owners. Clementine heard grunting as she saw Noah bash the walker tied to the tree with a branch, crushing its head out with blunt force. He also pulled off the knife that was embedded in its shoulder, with Clementine opening up her backpack which had a can of honey-roasted peanuts along with a half cut apple. Noah rummaged through the bin by the barbecue where he picked up a can of beans. He shook his head as he opened it using the knife by cutting the lid open, taking a few bite of beans. She saw Milly whining as she poured out honey-roasted peanuts on the ground, leaving the female siberian husky dog to feast on the peanuts laid out. Noah then heard growling as he looked to see Sam the laborder attacking siberian husky Milly, with Clementine trying to move Milly away while Sam snarled at her.

Noah grabbed its neck firmly. "Hey, NO! Bad-"

Noah was cut off as Sam pounced on him, biting him on his left arm with its teeth sinking in as he was grunting in pain. Blood drew out on Noah's arm as he balled his fists, slamming it directly to Sam the dog's head. He used his leg strength to kick the dog away as Sam went to lunge at him again, only for Noah to pull off a strong kick that sent it away and over the log. A yelp made itself known to be silenced by the sound of metal meeting flesh. Noah and Clementine moved around the log as they spotted Sam impaled through the stomach and hind leg by the tent poles, with Clementine gasping. Noah knelt beside him, glancing at Sam's impaled stomach and hind leg as he walked away.

"Noah." Noah stopped to heard Clementine's voice. "We should put it out of his misery." Clementine suggested out of mercy

"Let it die." he said coldy glaring at the dying dog

Clementine folded her arms and gave off a hard stare at the 23 year old. "Noah..."

Noah sighed. "Fine." he walked toward the tent pole impaled dog, glaring at it. He sighed and exhaled his breath, letting out anger peacefully. If Clementine was bitten by the dog instead of Noah, he would have let it to die on its own. But then he realized it was starving just like they were, trying to find food in order to survive. Calming his frustation down due hunger aching on his stomach. "Sure about this?" he asked as Clementine nodded back in reply. Noah lifted his foot atop the dying dog's head, stomping his foot heavily on its head killed on impact. He glanced at the siberian husky Milly who whined, with Noah patting her head gently. "It's not your fault, girl." he looked at Clementine. "Let's move. We need Lee and Carley. And if possible, Omid and Christa."

Clementine patted Milly gently. "We're right behind you." she said as her and Heidi the siberian husky followed Noah

`0`

Noah and Clementine walked through the forest for an hour or so, searching for any sign of Lee and Carley maybe Christa and Omid even. During that Clementine couldn't walk anymore and collapsed, leaving Noah to resort to carrying her through the darkening trees. Both of them were tired due to exhaustion as Noah's vision began to fade, his feet scrapping down along the path as he forced himself to stay awake. His head felt like it was being beaten by a jackhammer, impossible for him to hear over the dull thudding in her ears as he laid Clementine down and sat down beside her. She rested her head on Noah's shoulder while he returned leaned his head on a tree. He rested his eyes, but he soon was fading into unconsciousness slowly as Milly growled at figures in the distance. Unfornately, there were groaning nearby as the walkers woke Clementine up who had a worried look on her face. Clementine was shaking Noah, trying to wake the tired and exhausted 23 year old while Mindy was barking fiercily at the walkers coming toward them.

"Noah! NOAH!" she shouted as his eyes quickly opened with wide eyes, spotting walkers heading toward them. "We have to go. Now!" she said as they both stood back up quickly and bolted. "Milly! Come on, girl!" she called out as the siberian husky followed them

They trudged through the forest, the sound of groans of the walkers growing more nearer and nearer until one collapsed itself on Clementine, trying to bite him. Noah turned back and moved to save Clementine, kicking the walker in the head three times leaving both of them to run. Then all of a sudden, one walker grabbed Noah's foot as he fell while he was struggling to get the walker off of him. Before Clementine could do anything, an arrow launched itself to the walker's head as confusions suddeny descended over her and Noah. As they looked around, they spotted five people. One was an old man with dark facial hair and a graying scalp, wearing an olive jacket and cargo pants. The other was a young man in his early twenties with brown hair in locks around his head, wearing an orange longsleeve sweater and jeans. The third was a young woman in her twenties with shoulder length raven black hair and blue eyes, wearing a purple coat with a white hoodie underneath and jeans. The fourth was Asain heritage man with loose shaggy hair along with a trimmed beard, wearing a black and red jacket and brown pants. And the fifth was a rough beard man with his ear pierced along with a pierce below his bottom lip, wearing a skull cap over his head along with a black puffer coat and blue pants.

"I'm out, grab the kid and let's go!" the elder man shouted to his comrades, with the piercing man and brown haired man with locks carrying Noah on their shoulders. "Stephanie, get the girl!" said woman in her twenties grabbed Clementine's hand who showed a sympathetic look on her face, leading her to the rest of her group as they fled while carrying Noah.

They ran away from the walkers and through the forest quickly, running until they couldn't see anymore walkers. Once it was all clear, they continued walking through the forest. The woman in their group name Stephanie glanced at Clementine, seeing her catch her breath as Milly was beside her. She then turned her gaze at Noah as Luke

"You okay, kid?" she asked Clementine

"Yeah, thanks." Clementine answered in gratitude

"You two got a name?" the Asian man in the black and red jacket. "Where's the rest of your group?"

"I'm Clementine." she pointed at Noah. "And who you're carrying is Noah. We don't know where the rest of our group is. Last night, some people tried to rob us."

"What did they try to take?" the one in the skull cap asked

"A few rabbits and a weasel."

The brown haired man with locks glanced at Clementine while carrying Noah. "They rob ya'll for a weasel? I mean it's understandable for taking rabbit, but weasel..." he shook his head. "That's just low."

"Well you're safe now. My name's Stephanie." she pointed at the elder man and the man wearing the red jacket. "That's Pete and Vincent, but we call Vince and sometimes Vin for short." Stephanie then pointed Clementine toward the two people carryign Noah on their shoulder. "And those two carrying your friend over there are Luke and Eddie."

"I can..." Clementine shockingly glanced over at Noah, whose eyes slowly rose up as he was being carried by Luke and Eddie. "I can walk. There's no need to carry me."

"After nearly being chomped by a lurker? I doubt it." Luke said not taking Noah's word on being well

"Walkers, they're called walkers." Noah implied

Luke ignored Noah's comment as he shook his head. "Anyway, you two look for worse and we can-" he was cut off when he noticed a bite on his left arm. "Oh shit!" Luke got away from Noah as he fell with the man in the skull cap looking at him disbelief

"Luke, what the hell you did you do that for?!" Eddie shouted at Luke with shock and disbelief in his eyes

"He's bit!"

"No! He was just bite by a dog. It was a laborder!" Clementine pleaded

"We didn't see any laborders on him, Clementine." the elder man name Pete said

"There was!" she exclaimed. "Please, just look at it."

Luke frowned at Clementine as he folded his arms. "So your friend here could take a bite out of Pete's and Eddie's neck?"

Pete's eyebrows raised. "Why my neck?"

Eddie looked at Luke with shock as his eyebrows raised. "Luke, what the fuck?!"

"It's only a fucking dog bite, dumbasses!" Noah retorted, glaring at them. "Check it for yourselves."

Pete and Eddie glanced at each other, with the mid-fifties man crouching down to check the bite on Noah's arm. "Alright, then. Let's take a look."

"Whoa, whoa be careful." Luke said as Noah glared at him. "Hey, you're the one with the lurker bite here not me." he countered frowning at Noah while he shoved a deadly look Luke's way

"Dog. Bite." he growled, giving Luke a deadly glare

"Pete, Eddie." both men glanced over their shoulders at Vince. "Is it what they say it is? Is that a dog bite?"

"Hard to say." Pete muttered analyzing the bite mark

"Not really." Eddie replied. "This is definitely a dog bite. I've had my share of them once. A german shepard bit my leg at one time before the outbreak started. Wyatt got bite in the leg a couple of days before that started."

"Where is this dog?" Vince asked Noah

"I killed it." Noah answered

"A dog just shows and bites you, and you kill it?" Luke said, still in disbelief as he kept his arms folded together

Stephanie glanced at Luke, folding her arms giving said man a stare. "What would've you done, Luke?"

"Besides, the damn thing attacked me." Noah replied, getting annoyed by Luke. "What did you expect me to do?"

"Still... you don't kill dogs." he said back losing the argument

"Pussy." Noah muttered clearly getting annoyed by Luke

"Noah, you'll tell us the truth if you're bitten." Pete looked Noah in the eye as he did the same with Pete. "Is this true?" Noah nodded his head. "Is this a dog bite?"

"Yeah, it is. That's the true." he answered looking Pete in the eye

Pete nodded and stood back up with Eddie. "Well alright then."

"What?" Luke asked startled. "You're gonna believe him just like that?"

"I got a pretty good bullshit detector Luke." he replied looking over to Luke. "That's why you, Eddie and Vince never beat me at poker."

"I recall getting a few wins of my own, old man." Vince chuckled

"Fuck, now I remember." Eddie swore. "You always got my look whenever I was in the fourth draw."

"You never..." Luke trailed off. "That's true, you do. Can we go now?"

"We can them to the cabin." Eddie said as Noah weakeningly stood up. "Carlos could take a look at his arm and make the call. But I'm telling you guys, it probably a dog bite."

Stephanie walked over to Noah as she had a worried look toward his way. "Hey, are you alright?"

Noah sighed. "Yeah. I can walk." he said to her

Luke turned his head to glance at him. "Good. Because I'm not carrying you with that lurker bite on your arm."

"Get... bent..." Noah countered, trailing off as he fell to the ground

"Aw, shit!"

"NOAH!" Clementine screamed

`0`

Noah laid uncounscious on the ground, but his head was being covered by Stephanie's lap. Clementine was sent inside with Luke and Vince while the rest of the cabin group was arguing amongst themselves. But unknown to her, Noah's eyes slowly opened he saw Luke's group. There was a dark haired mullet man in his twenties wearing a trucker hat and blue eyes, he held a rifle in his hands. A pregnant black woman wearing a white shirt underneath black longsleeves and blue pants. A couple of black men, one chubby and the other showing a little overweight and muscularity. The one on the left was older, had on glasses having a small bit of greying in his goatee and hair. He wore a brown coat with a checkered shirt and brown pants. The other one on the right had a full beard and a missing piece on his green coat where a police star would be, along with woodland camo pants. But the last person was someone Noah noticed as his eyes widened, remebering that he'd seen this person before. Same greying hair, dark skin, wearing a teal blue sweater and khalis. He was part of Vernon's cancer survivor group back in Savannah one year ago.

"They could be working for Carver!" the pregnant woman huffed

Eddie glared at her. "You are fucking serious? You think a little girl and this guy is working with Carver? That's bullshit. If they were with Carver, then they wouldn't beat up and too damn worn out!"

she glared back Eddie. "How would you know?! It could be a walker bite for all we know! Dog bite, my ass."

"And what if it isn't? What if this isn't a lurker bite, Rebecca? My guts telling me it's only a dog bite." Eddie countered back at Rebecca. "I know it."

"You sure, Eddie?" the full bearded man asked

Eddie shrugged "Obviously. Of course I'm sure, Dre!"

the man called Dre narrowed his eyes at Eddie. "How sure are you?" he asked

"Pretty sure." he replied. "Don't take ecstacy with a hooker sure."

Rebecca scoffed. "Glad you're fucking sure of yourself." she said in a sarcastic tone

"In the meantime, we need to calm down." Boyd said. "This could be a dog bite what the girl and this young man is saying for all we know. Plus, this young man here once saved my life almost two years ago."

"There's no way that little girl inside the cabin and this guy survived this long." the mullet man with the trucker hat retorted

"They did, Nick. They're standing proof of how they survived right now. What does that tell you?" Boyd glanced at the black man with glasses. "Alvin, would you agree with me on this?"

"Boyd? Is that y-" Noah was cut off by the sound of the gunshot from the rifle, with both Noah and Stephanie luckily manage to get away from the shot

Stephanie glared at Nick for almost shooting Noah and nearly her in the process. "Jesus christ, Nick! You almost blew my face off!"

"Finger off the trigger, boy!" Pete scolded taking the rifle away from Nick's hand as Luke and Vince stepped out with Clementine

"Whoa, whoa! What the fuck?!" Luke shouted as Clementine hugged Noah while Milly barked angrily at Nick, leaving Noah to pet her calmly

"You idiot! Every lurker from five miles might've hear that!" Rebecca scowled glaring at Nick

"You're the one telling me to fucking shoot him!" he shot back

"Everyone calm down for a second." Rebecca's husband Alvin said

"Hey! Everybody, shut the fuck up!" Vince shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you, people? It's just a dog bite. If Eddie's sure of it, so am I. We all can't start panicking because of a technically that this could be a lurker bite."

"We're all scared, Vince. Don't blame us for being irrational because we don't believe this bullshit." the pregnant woman said walking toward Vince

"Look, all I need is a doctor so me and Clementine can be on our way to find our group." Noah lifted his dog bitten arm up as a hispanic man who was their doctor Carlos step out. "I just need this taken care of. I don't want it to be infected before it's too late."

Nick frowned. "None of us wanna get infected. That's the point." he retorted folding his arms

"Nick!" Stephanie hissed glaring at Nick

"You ever point that rifle at me again, I'm punching you in the fucking nose." Noah declared with him and Nick in a glaring match

"Look," everyone glanced at Vince. "I'm going to take Stephanie, Mitchell and Eddie with me to find their group." he glanced at Clementine and Noah, then glanced at Milly the siberian husky. "And the dog too, with your permission?" they both nodded their head in reply as him and the people he called prepared to leave in search of their group. But before he pressed on, he glanced at them for a short moment. "Don't do anything stupid while we're gone." he ordered as him, Eddie, Dre and Stephanie went to find Noah and Clementine's group taking Milly the dog with them

"We could take his arm off." Pete suggested as Clementine gasped at the suggestion Pete thought of. "I know that worked for a cousin down in Ainsworth. We could try that."

"It wouldn't do any good. You'll just be making it worse for the kid." Rebecca said

"It's crazy. No one's gonna volunteer to do that." Alvin said

"I would, if it means saving his life." Pete replied

"Then what? How would we know it worked?" Nick asked as Carlos took a look at Noah's arm

"Who's that?" said a fifteen year old, possibly Carlos' daughter

"Sarah, what did I say? Stay inside." he said in a sternly yet protective way as the girl called Sarah went back inside the cabin

"So... what do you think?" Luke asked. "It is what a dog bite what Eddie said?"

"With this bite," he paused glancing at Noah. "It could be anything." Carlos analyzed the arm then stood up. "Only one way to find out."

"And that would be..." Boyd trailed off leaving Carlos to finish

"We wait." Carlos suggested. "We put him in the shed. By tomorrow morning, if the fever's set in, we'll know if he turns. In the meantime, we can lock him in the shed."

"Carlos..." Boyd trailed off shocked at the doctor's solution

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the fuck on here!" Noah objected. "My arm needs to be cleaned, stitched and bandaged. If you don't do something about it, it'll get fucking worse. I'll end up dead the first chance I get if this isn't taken care of."

"I'm not wasting supplies on a lurker bite."

"For fuck sake, it's a goddamn dog bite!" Noah snarled getting annoyed and infuriated by the cabin group's refusal of helping him. "Think for a fucking minute, alright?!"

"We are." Carlos stated in a serious tone. "If it turns out you're telling the truth, I'll clean it and stitch it up for you in the morning."

Luke showed an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry. It's the best we're gonna get." he said as Nick kept the rifle aimed at Noah

"Come on." Nick growled

Noah got up and punched Nick directly in the nose, with everyone's eyes wide as Noah threw the rifle down on the ground. "Told you I was gonna punch your fucking nose if you kept aiming that rifle at me." Noah walked to the shed as he opened the door, side glancing at the cabin group. "Un... fucking... believable." he muttered while Pete handed Nick back the rifle.

"Finger off the trigger, son." he warned

Nick scowled as he snatched the rifle from Pete's hands. "I ain't your son!"

"That's enough, Nick. Calm down." Boyd pleaded sternly. "We already have enough problems tonight as it is. We don't need another one. Go inside."

Nick turned to glare at Boyd. "How do-"

"NOW." Boyd sternly ordered

"Whatever." Nick huffed, shoving his shoulder at Boyd's

"Sorry about that, Pete." Body said in a apologetic tone. "Nick was close enough raisin' my blood pressure."

"It's alright." Pete glanced at Nick heading inside. "Boy's got his mom's temper."

Clementine stared at Noah inside the shed, with Boyd placing a gentle touch on her shoulder. "I'll be sure to check on him for a while. I promise." he said as Clementine and Boyd went inside

While Noah went inside the shed and everyone else was in the cabin deciding what to do, Clementine was sneaking around the cabin to find medical supplies. After she convinced Carlos' daughter Sarah to give her supplies to save Noah, she headed for the shed. She crawled over a hole where she noticed Noah leaning on a wall, with Clementine opening the lid off of the hydrogen peroxide bottle. Noah suddenly noticed Clementine poured a drop of it in his dog bitten arm, letting out a yelp of pain. Clementine placed a finger on lips telling Noah to be quiet, setting a thread on the hole of a needle easily. She glanced at Noah who nodded to tell her he was ready as Clementine stuck it in his wound, causing Noah to yell in pain while Clementine continued the rest. She finally finished stitching his arm as she moved her attention to the bandage wrap, setting a strap only for the wrap to fall on the floor. Clementine bent down to pick up until a walker came out of nowhere out the hole she crawled in, struggling for her leg to free. Noah kicked the walker's head a few times as it released its grip on Clementine, now tackling Noah to the ground leaving the 23 year old to struggle the walker off of him. Clementine threw a brick that sent the walker falling on its ass, along with launching a rake at its chest as laid back on a wall to Clementine's level. Noah took the hammer from the shed and bashed the claw of the hammer, directly into its skull for five times to actually kill it. They heard the shed door being yanked open, revealing the cabin group including Vince, Eddie, Stephanie and Dre along with Milly that arrived just recently.

"Clementine?" said person glanced to see Lee and Carley with the rest of them

"Lee! Carley!" Clementine hugged both of them into an embrace

"What the fuck..." Luke trailed off shocked along with the others

"Holy shit..." Alvin paused when Noah removed the claw of the hammer out of the walker's head

"Kid's tough as nails." Pete said amazed

"Are you alright, son?" Boyd asked

"I'm Still. Not. BITTEN." he growled, glaring at the cabin except Vince and his search party team who were looking for Noah and Clementine's group. "I never fucking WAS! And you left me in that shithole of a shed to die!"

Vince glared at his group. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?! I told you not to do anything while we were gone!"

Luke glanced. "Did you patch yourself up?

Nick stared at Noah's stitched arm with a frown. "Where he did get those?"

Rebecca looked at the stitching as well. "Did he steal from us?!"

"None of this changes a thing." Pete said changing the subject of everyone showing mistrust of Noah using their supplies. "Kid's done nothin' wrong to us."

Rebecca scoffed. "Says the man not carrying a baby."

"Enough already." Pete sighed angrily, getting annoyed by Rebecca's accustations

"I'm sure he had his reasons for this." Boyd pointed out

"You didn't leave me a fucking choice." Noah said coldly

Rebecca folded her arms glaring at Noah. "And we're suppose to believe you?" Noah glared back at her and the others

Vince touched Carlos' shoulder, motioning him to let Noah come inside the cabin. "Take him inside." Carlos said as everyone started going inside

"Damn lurkers could get the jump on us." Alvin muttered

"Hey, are you hungry?" Stephanie asked Noah, glancing at her with a small grin as he nodded his head in a yes

`0`

Noah was in the dinning room kitchen with Luke, Stephanie and Nick watching him closely as Carlos took a look at his arm. In the meantime Boyd was talking to Lee and Carley in the living room while Clementine stayed by Noah, patting Milly's head as the dog waggled her tail in enjoyment and calmness.

"How is he?" Stephanie asked Carlos

Carlos glanced at Clementine and then at Noah. "Aside from the stitching that needs improvement, I'd say he's fine."

Luke's tension ease off relieved. "So it wasn't a lurker bite?"

"If it was, the fever would've set in already and the temper would be at the roof." Carlos stated as Nick stormed out the room, with Luke and Stephanie following him

"I wish you hadn't did what you done." Carlos said glancing at Clementine, washing his hands in the sink

"Don't pin this on her. I told you I needed help and you didn't do anything about it." Noah replied defending Clementine

"That's because we perceive you as a threat. Which you were. He stated as he glanced at Noah. "Maybe you still are one. "We kept you in that shed to protect our love lives," Carlos side glanced at Clementine. "but instead, she persuaded my daughter to giving her our supplies to help you. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, but there are somethings you need to know about my daughter."

Noah quirked his eyebrow at Carlos. "Are you saying she's mentally unstable?"

"No. she has an aniexty disorder." he stated. "And if she saw how the world really was, she would... ceast to function. She's my daughter and I would appreciate if Clementine left her alone."

"She still needs to know." Noah huffed. "It's only a matter of time before it hits her way first hand."

"You don't know what she needs!" Carlos snapped, moving closer to Noah

"Yes, I fucking do. Because let me tell you something," Noah paused as Clementine went in the living room. "If you don't teach her how to survive in this world, she will die if she doesn't adapt to it quick. Like for instance if something happen to you and maybe your group-" Carlos cut Noah off

"It won't." he growled

Noah grabbed Carlos by the collar of his shirt. "It fucking will, asshole." he shoved away toward a counter as he sat back down. "Maybe not now. Maybe not tomorrow, but sooner or later she's going to have to know how to survive if you're all dead and if she's on her own." Noah stated coldly glaring at Carlos. "She's gonna have to know how to use a gun properly, how a map works. Cut her hair even." he paused after that last part he said. "Great, I'm starting to sound like Chuck." he muttered turning his attention back to Carlos. "The point is, she needs to know how to survive if she's all by herself. Whether you like it or not. I suggest you think on that for a while." he concluded with Clementine staring back at both of them, with Carlos but not before he glared at Noah. Noah did the same until Carlos left, only for Luke and Stephanie to bring them a meal. "Overprotective prick." he muttered as Lee and Carley also walked in

"I hope you guys are hungry." Stephanie said, with her and Luke carrying bowls of what seem to be oatmeal for Lee, Carley, Clementine and Noah as they started eating

"That's gonna leave one helluva scar." Luke said as Noah stopped eating

"Better than losing an arm." he muttered

Luke and Stephanie smiled. "You can say that again. Scars... they're way cooler than stumps." Luke said

"That and I hear chicks dig scars." Noah replied smiling at Stephanie who smiled back at him as the door opened, revealing Nick stood in front of them

"Hey, look." he started. "I just wanna that I'm sorry for...well... for being a dick out there." he apologized. "I got kinda aggro and that was definitely not cool."

"Nick's been known to go off once in a while." Stephanie said as he touched Noah's hand with a firm touch. "Don't hold it against him."

"I guess we have our moments." Nick uttered

"You especially have your moments." Luke joked

"It's cool. You did what you had to do." Noah said accepting Nick's apology

Nick rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't mean to be so harsh. I just..." Nick looked away. "we had a bad experience once."

"We all have bad experiences." Lee told Nick

"What happened?" Carley asked

"Nick's mom got bit by someone who we tried to help." Stephanie explained. "She died after that person turned."

"It was my fault. I-" Luke cut Nick off

"It was no ones fault. We thought we could control it, but... we couldn't. And then she turned and his mom was standing right there and she got attacked..."

"There was nothing we could do." Stephanie concluded

"Anyway. Hopefully you understand." Nick said to Noah and the others

"Yeah." Noah looked down. "I know the feeling of losing a mother." he said as Nick and Luke left

"So since you guys are pretty much on your own... what's your plan?" Stephanie asked

"We don't know. We're kinda on our own now." Clementine answered

"Well, you guys are welcome to stay here as you like." Stephanie said in a welcoming tone. "

"What about your group in this cabin?" Lee inquired

"Boyd and Luke are up for it. The others will just have to go use to it." Stephanie replied. "So, what happen to your families?"

Lee and the others looked at each other than at Stephanie, leaving Lee the first to speak. "I met Clementine and Noah since the start all of this happened. I was actually incarcerated."

"What did you do?" Stephanie inquired curious

"I accidently killed someone for sleeping with my wife. A state senator to be exact." Lee explained

Stephanie blinked. "Whoa. That must've been really deep."

"It was. The next day will when I met Carley and this other group." Lee's expression saddened along with Carley, Clementine and Noah. "But it didn't go so well in the end. Clementine's parents went on vacation while they left her with a babysitter. Unfornately, she was a walker and I had to kill her when I made my way to Clementine and her parents. That's when what remained in our group headed for Savannah, the place Clementine's parents but they were walkers once we made our way there."

"Lee taught how to survive. Him, Carley and Noah looked after me. They saved my life and so did Noah's mom." Clementine added sadly

Stephanie glanced at Noah with a sad look on her face. "What happened to your mother?"

"Clementine was kidnapped and my mother was bitten." Noah explained as Stephanie's eyes widened with shock and sadness. "My mother and the rest of our group went to look for Clementine while I stayed behind to look after a boat that was going to take us out of Savannah."

"The boat that Vernon took. Boyd told me about that." Stephanie hinted out

"The same boat, but Vernon end up being screwed." Noah replied. "After that, I regrouped with the others and we went looking for Clementine. We find her in time, but... but my mother didn't have much time left. Even when her arm was cut off in order to stop the infection, only for her to slowly die from blood loss."

"I uh... she wanted me to give her mercy. After that, we left Savannah." Lee finished

"Sounds like it's been rough on you guys." Stephanie looked at Noah. "Your mother must've been a good woman."

"She was." Noah said back in a grateful tone when the door opened to show Pete

"I hate to interrupt, but I'm out watch and I can't help but notice this place is lit like a goddamn beacon in the middle of the night."

"He's right. It's time to turn in early."

"Get your winks while you can 'cause we're goin' fishing at first light." Pete told Noah and Clementine. "A couple of fresh brookies for dinner. Mm, wouldn't that be nice."

"I would." Noah said as Stephanie smiled at him, with Noah smiling back as Stephanie, Pete, Lee and Carley went to the living

"You love her." Clementine teased in a sang

Noah ruffled her hat. "Yeah, yeah." the door opened up to show Rebecca

"Oh. You're still here." she said in sarcasm and irritation while she made her way to the sink

"You're still a bitch." Noah muttered while Clementine left the table and went in the living room with Lee and Carley

"I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you." Rebecca scowled

"Whose the father?" Noah asked

Rebecca turned around with a shocking look on her face. "What?"

"If it isn't your husband Alvin, whose the bastard father?" Noah trolled with a smirk crossing his face

"You shut your fucking mouth!" she muttered in a whisper

"I would watch my language if I were you." Noah said taking a bite of his food, still showing a grin. "And you should also be more nicer."

Rebecca kept her glare fixed on Noah. "I knew you were gonna be a fucking mistake."

"The same could be said for you cheating on your husband." he said, trolling her again with the devious smile he showed her.

"You have what you came for. So, just go." she said leaving the kitchen

Noah chuckled. "I might stay here after all."

`0`

"So how'd you two sleep?" Pete asked while Noah and Clementine followed up the river, while him glancing at Noah. "I heard you got a earful from Rebecca last night."

"I ain't scared of a preggo lady. Besides, I needed a good troll." Noah said smugly as Dre Mitchell

"Good to hear then." Mitchell said with Noah patting Milly's head as they walked toward the river. "Rebecca can come off."

"How far are these fish traps." Clementine asked walking close to Pete

"Not far ahead." Pete glanced at Clementine. "So, Lee told me he taught you how to shoot. Said you were still a crack shot."

"Yeah. But not with a rifle!" she menioned

"Probably because it'll give you more kick and knock you on your butt." Mitchell replied

"Nick was about Clementine's age when I first took him huntin'. Came across this beautiful 13-point buck just standin' there on the ridgelines." Pete stated as he aimed his rifle. "The boy takes the rifle, lines it up like I taught him and I hear him start whinin'. He turns to me and says "I can't do it. I can't shoot it Uncle Pete. Please don't make me shoot it." he didn't want to pull the trigger on it."

Noah chuckled. "Now that's just sad."

"Hey!" they turned their attention to Nick. "Why didn't you guys wait?"

Drew scoffed. "You want us to wait while you're pissing on a tree. You know where the river is, man." he said as Nick frowned at him

Pete and Noah continued walking. "Anyway, so I go to grab the gun out of his hand before this big buck runs off when BANG! The gun fires. Boy nearly gut shot me. And of course the buck gets away."

"What are you going telling them this shit for?" Nick inquired annoyed

"Because you almost shot his face off yesterday. Seems revelant. Tryin' to let him know it's nothin' with you."

Nick lowered his rifle. "Why are you always giving me a hard time?"

"Because you're givin' everyone else a hard time." Pete scolded

"I already apologized to him." Nick explained

"He's right. We'll cool." Noah told Pete

"You're always embrassing me." Nick scowled

"You're doing a good enough job of that on your own." Pete snapped with Nick shoving his shoulder to his arm. "Leaving us again?"

"I know where the fucking river is!" Nick quickly snapped, heading toward the river stream on his own while Drew followed him

"So anyway..." he turned to Noah and Clementine. "I found that buck later that season. Shot it right in the neck. Brought it up to my sister's figurin' she'd want to freeze some of the meat off... Nick didn't speak to me for weeks. Sometimes you gotta play a role... even if people you love hate you for it." Pete finished rubbing the back of his head

"Nick doesn't hate you, Pete." Noah said to him

"Nick's father wasn't there for him much, and he was a piece of shit when he was. So it fell to me to keep him in line. Raise him right. Which meant I couldn't be nice-" Pete was cut off when Nick shouted

"Uncle Pete!" he yelled as Pete, Clementine and Noah rush to find Nick and Drew

They found Nick and Drew near the river stream, their eyes widened with sudden shock at what they were looking at. There were dead bodies laying everywhere, bullet holes in each and every one of them. Noah and Clementine helped Pete, Nick and Drew check the bodies as Noah discovered a bullet hole in one of dead corpses head. Dead center with a pinpoint accurate shot. Pete suggested the others should check the bodies to see if there were really dead, look for someone alone who could explained what happened along with extra ammo. Pete believed that the incident wasn't a standard pissing match between bandits, but FUBAR. Noah agreed while he and Clementine followed Pete and Dre Mitchell. That's when he saw Clementine walking over to a body, which had Noah's backpack. Noah narrowed his eyes as he followed when he heard wheezing, glancing down to a near dying man but he looked familiar to Clementine and Noah.

"That's your backpack..." Clementine said to Noah trailing off

Noah's eyes widened when he realized who this was. "You were in the woods with Christa and Omid." he said with Clementine's eyes being wide as well when she recognized the man. "What happened to them? Tell me... tell me!" Noah demanded squeezing pressure on the dying man's chest

"Please...water..." he said before coughing as Clementine gave a sip of water, with Noah taking his backpack and strapping it on his back. "Thank you."

Pete made his way toward Noah and Clementine. "Where's Christa and Omid? Who did-" Noah was cut off when he heard a shout as Mitchell shot a walker near his leg

"Mitchell! You alright?!" Nick yelled

"I'm fine! Just lost my footing that's all." Pete, Noah and Clementine noticed a small bite mark on Mitchell's leg. "Damn it, god fucking damn it!" they heard him whisper as he looked at them with saddened eyes

Then all of a sudden, walkers started to appear out of the woods when they heard the gunshot. Nick and Mitchell was yelling for the others to head their direction, with Noah following Mitchell while Clementine followed Pete and Nick.

"Clem!"

"Noah!"

Mitchell grabbed his "Come on! We gotta go!" Noah followed Mitchell as they ran away from the walkers, fleeing the river before they could be overrun


	7. A House Divided

Chapter 7: A House Divided

Noah continuing running at top speed, looking left and right for the cabin. Then all of a sudden he crashed into someone as they both were on the ground. Noah stood just to see it was Pete and Clementine he impacted on. Pete slowly got up as he rubbed his aching back while Clementine got up on her feet as she saw Noah rubbing a pained area in his stomach.

"Noah." she hugged him in an embrace, with Noah returning the hug back

Pete smiled as he saw Noah alive. "I'll be damned, you made it." Pete's smiled faded when he didn't notice Mitchell. "Where's Mitchell? When we saw the bite on his leg..."

"He's still alive, but it didn't look he have that much time left." Noah stated sadly

Pete had a firm expression on his face after hearing Noah's statement. "Come on. The cabin's not far ahead."

`0`

Pete opened the back door of the cabin as him, Noah and Clementine entered. Inside, they spotted Carlos, Rebecca and Stephanie in the kitchen sitting down. Rebecca and Carlos got up from their chairs while Stephanie went to hug Pete, but noticed Nick and Mitchell weren't present with them. Milly barked happily at Clementine and Noah returning back, while the 11 year old scratching the dog's ear.

"Are you guys alright?" Stephanie asked the trio that came inside the cabin

Carlos was the first to speak. "Pete, Clementine, Noah. Where's Nick and Mitchell?"

"We got attacked down by the river stream. And..." Noah looked away along with Pete and Clementine. "While we were there, Mitchell got bit." he answered in a sad tone leaving all three except Pete and Clementine shocked who already knew

"Where's Lee and Carley?" Clementine asked

"They went with Luke and Alvin to find you guys." Stephanie replied. "Vince took Eddie and Boyd doing the same."

"We have to GO out there!" Rebecca panicked

"Now hold on a minute, Rebecca-" Pete was cut off by said woman

"My husband is still out there. GET. THE. GUNS!" Carlos went to grabbed their weapons as she looked at Noah and Clementine. "Luke and the others went looking for you. I told them not to go. Damn it, Luke."

"Can we take Milly to find them?" Pete asked Noah as he nodded in reply with Pete letting out a whistle. "Come on, girl."

Milly barked as she followed Pete, Stephanie and Rebecca out. Carlos paused for a moment and gazed at Noah and Clementine

"Clem, Noah. Can you two look after Sarah while we're gone?"

"Yeah, just hurry back." Noah said telling Carlos to find the others, while Noah and Clementine to open the door to the living room and up to Sarah's room when

"Say 'Cheese'!" Sarah took a picture of Noah and Clementine when they opened the door.

"Where did you find that at?" Noah asked her

"I found this under the house." she said in excitement with enthuasiam. "There was all kinds of old stuff! It's so cool!" Sarah handed the picture to Clementine as she gave her the camera. "Here, take one of me!"

"Sure." Clementine said as she got ready when Sarah started to smile

"Okay, I'm ready!" she said keeping her smile still as Clementine took the picture, now handing it over to her. She saw the sad looks of Clementine and Noah. "What's wrong? Um, where's my dad?" Sarah asked with Noah and Clementine glancing at each other, then at Sarah

"I won't sugarcoat it, your dad and the others went looking for Nick and Mitchell." Noah said truthfully. "He'll be fine." he told her as Sarah turned around with him and Clementine hearing panic breathing, crouching with both her at the top of her knees

"I'm sorry. It's just-" she looked and smiled at Clementine and Noah. "Want to see whatelse I found?" she heading for something underneath her bed to pull out a pistol. "Could you teach me how to use this? I couldn't find any bullets. What if I have to use one?"

"Okay... but, be careful. That thing's not a toy." Noah said

Sarah's smile faded away, now paying attention. "I know."

"First, remember it's only a thing." Clementine added

"What does that mean?" she inquired holding the .38 pistol like a small rifle

"What it means is that it's a weapon of danger. A taker of life." Noah explained. "Yours if you're not careful." he said sternly

Sarah looked down the sight. "I thought it'd be heavier."

"Pistols and sub-machine pistols are lighter. But anyone like a shotgun, machine guns and rifle assault or sniper are heavier than small weapons." Noah stated to Sarah

"Okay," she glanced at Noah and Clementine. "What do I do?"

"The most important thing to do is to aim at the sight." Clementine leaned Sarah to stance her shooting position. "You see a walker, you always aim and shoot for its head. If you see anyone not a walker, you shoot anywhere on the living person's body."

"What should I shoot?" she asked now aiming at the gun at Noah and Clementine

"Whoa, Sarah! Lower that thing, now!" Noah yelled as him and Clementine moved out of the way

Sarah looked shocked at the mistake she just made suddenly. "Sorry! Maybe I could practice outside." she looked out the window as a shadow moving. "Luke's back!" she ran down the stairs

"Sarah, wait!" Noah whispered, but she was already heading down. "Damn it." he swore as him and Clementine went downstairs to find Sarah hiding away from the door with a panicked look on her face

"That's not Luke. Clem! Noah! I think I know him." she said with a terrified tone in her voice

"Sarah, hide somewhere." Noah told Sarah as she did was she was told to do while Noah slowly appeared the door, readying to lock the door

Unfornately, he couldn't as the door spread open to reveal a man wearing a brown coat with fur lining and blue pants. His face looked unshaven with a grown mustache standing aside his dark hair and matching eyes.

"Hello there." he said in a gravelly voice.

"Get back." Noah said cautiously. "I got a gun."

"Smart kid. I got a gun too, but I'm not a bad guy. Trust me, kid." he said calmly with a smile crossing his face. "My family and I are set up a ways down river. Which would make us neighbors. Kinda surprise we haven't met each other yet. What are your names?"

"That depends," Noah folded his arms giving the man a hard stare. "what's yours?"

the man chuckled. "My name is George." he said extending his hand

"Francis." Noah said hiding the use of his name and Clementine's. "This is my sister, Jill."

"Pleasure to meet you." 'George' said now coming inside with their consent. "Mind if I come in?"

"Could you please leave?" Clementine asked calmly, but disturbed by 'George' who came inside the cabin

"This is a nice place. Is there anyone else around?" the man named 'George' inquired

"Just us and our parents." Noah answered

"Really? What's their names?" George asked

"Ed and Diana." Clementine replied

"Ed and Diana. I like 'em already. Strong names." 'George made his way toward the kitchen after scanning the hallway. "Where are they?"

"They went out." Clementine stated

"Well, I'll cut to the chase. I'm looking for my people. They might've gotten lost and I'm wondering if you seen them." 'George' stated. "Two farm boys and a man in his fifties. A pretty lady in her early twenties and an old black man. A chiseled beared man and a guy who's got a piercing under his lips and ears. A asian man with a trimmed beard. A spinach guy and his daughter, a little bit taller than your sister. A black guy with glasses" he spread his arms out to describe the person's weight. "this big. A beautiful pregnant lady."

"I haven't seen them." Noah stated

"That's a shame, then. Well, thanks anyway." he glanced at the dishes in the sink. "Seem to be almost a lot just for four people here."

Clementine leaned on a counter. "Well, yeah I'm suppose to be doing the dishes." she glanced at the knife close to her

"Just passin' through, or you been here a while?"

"Where DO you live?" Clementine asked avoiding the question

"Down by the river there." he stated. "There's a sweet little spot by a boat where we pitched up camp."

George grabbed the knife and held it up at Noah. "Where does this go?"

"In this drawer over there." he said pointed to a drawer at George's left as he set it inside the drawer. "Well, it looks like I troubled you long enough. So I'll just see myself out. Hmm?" he stared at a checkered shirt in the living room. "I knew a guy who also wore shirts like this. A doctor."

"What was his name?" Clementine asked

"Carlos." he answered which confirmed Noah's suspension that 'George' was talking about the group in the cabin who stared at the chessboard. "White's in trouble. Three moves away from losing." he stopped as he heard a sound upstairs. "What was that?"

"Probably just the wind." Noah said avoiding the question from the person known as 'George' only pulled out his revolver and head upstairs, into one of the rooms in front of him

"There's no one here but us." Noah said folding his arms

"Seems that way. Just checkin' to be sure. Couldn't leave you two here with a clear conscious." 'George' said putting his revovler back in his hand as he noticed a picture on the floor, a picture of Sarah. "Who's this?"

"Must've been someone who lived her." Clementine said

"Must be." he give both Noah and Clementine. "You have no idea who these people are, do you?"

"We have no idea who you're talking about." Noah said with his and Clementine's arms folded together giving 'George' a hard stare

'George' looked left and right, then back at Noah and Clementine. "Lemme ask you this. When you met 'em, how much did they trust you?"

"Pete and Eddie trusted us." Clementine said admitted

"Did they, now? You sure about that?" 'George asked stroking his chin. "Well, I think I troubled you both long enough. I'll let myself out." he said heading downstairs

"Why shouldn't we trust them?" Clementine questioned 'George' who looked up and smirked

"You have a good day, now." he said closing the door on the way out

"Shit!" Noah yelled, pacing back and forth. "Sarah, you can come out now." he said glancing at the room where Sarah got out under the bed. "He's gone."

"What if he comes back?" Sarah inquired rubbing her hand up and down her arm afraid

Noah sighed, unsure what to say. "I don't know. I really don't."

Clementine and Sarah sat on the couch waiting for the others to arrive back, while Noah paced back and forth. Noah was pondering in his mind about the man that came in the cabin, that man named 'George'. He didn't trust him and most of all had a bad vibe going through his spine about how nearly dangerous he was. He wondered why was he here and why was he trying to find the cabin group. That's when he came up with two reasons. One: George was apart of their group who got lost when they left. Or two: they left because 'George' was a dangerous person in the group. After an hour of waiting, Noah stopped pacing as he glanced at Clementine and Sarah

"We need to find the others." Noah declared. "I'll go look for them. You two-" he was cut off when he hear a dog barking at the door which was Milly

"That's Milly." Clementine said as her and Sarah got out of the couch and headed to the kitchen, where they spotted Luke and the others except Dre Mitchell coming inside

"Dad!" Sarah yelled hugging her father when he came in

"Clementine!" Lee said with him hugging Clementine while Noah appeared in the kitchen leaning on a wall. "Noah, are you two you alright?" he asked as Carley wrapped Clementine in a embrace with her hugging Carley back

"Yeah, Lee." he stated. "I'm fine. So is Clem."

Luke turned to Noah. "Noah, you were with Drew right? We gotta go look for him."

"A man came inside the house." Sarah confessed

"What?!" Carlos said shocked

Rebecca and everyone looked at Sarah. "What did she say?"

"Someone came to the cabin. Clementine and Noah talked to him." she added

"So much for being subtle." Noah muttered

Rebecca glare at Noah and Clementine. "And you two just let him in?!"

"Rebecca, calm down." Stephanie pleaded in a calm tone

"I AM calm. You calm down!" she scowled Stephanie

"Look, I didn't do shit. He walked himself right in before I tried to lock the door." Noah said defending himself and Clementine

"They're telling the truth." Sarah said, taking their side

"Did he say his name?" Carlos asked Noah. "Did he say what his name was?"

"Maybe it wasn't him." Rebecca said, hoping it wasn't who they think it was

"You know damn well who it was." Alvin muttered

"Said his name was George." Noah answered

"George?" Nick inquired. "Are you serious?"

"That's what he said." Clementine replied to Nick

"Clem, Noah, could you two tell us what he looked like? What was he wearing?" Carlos asked them

"His voice was deep and scratchy. Kind of gravelly." Clementine said

"He also had a unshaven mustache and wore a brown coat with fur lining." Noah added

"He talked about you, dad." Sarah said to her father. "You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?"

"Of course he went, alright Sarah. Your dad's the nicest man in the world," Luke glanced at Carlos. "which is why he won't do anything crazy or not nice right?"

Carlos put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "You know these are bad people, sweetie. They will do or say anything to hurt us."

Luke glanced at Noah. "All right, what do you think? Did he look like he was coming back?"

"I think. And it's possible, too." Noah replied

Sarah looked down holding a picture of herself. "He saw a picture of me."

"What were you doing taking pictures?!" Carlos demanded in a worried and furious tone

"Carlos." Vince said getting the doctor's attention

"What?!" he glared at Vince who had a still expression on his face

"Calm down, okay? You're scaring your daughter, man." Eddie stated telling said person to calm down

"It was me." Clementine said taking the blame

"No! It was me!" Sarah objected taking full blame

Carlos sighed. "Sarah." he looked at the others. "He was scouting. We got lucky. He wasn't expecting to find us. Clementine and Noah must have surprised him. If they hadn't been there..." he trailed off looking at Sarah

"Well, he was too smart to stick around. But I'm betting he'll be back with the rest." Vince stated

"We ain't got much time left either." Pete added

"They're right. Everyone pack up, we're leaving." Luke declared as Alvin and Rebecca left the kitchen

"What does he want?" Lee asked Carlos

"To bring us back." he stated grimly to Lee. "Noah, Clementine. I don't know what he's told you, but William Carver is a dangerous man."

"Who is he?" Carley inquired

"He's a leader of a camp not far from here, and he's very smart." Carlos explained. "We were... lucky to escape." he looked at Noah and Clementine. "Look, I'm sorry to invovle you both. But now that he's seen you two," he turned his gaze at Lee and Carley. "you'll be safer with us."

Luke turned his head to look at Noah. "Look, we gotta find Drew on our way outta here. You know where he was, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Alright, then. Everyone grab your stuff. Let's hit the road!" Luke declared incredously

`0`

Noah was with Luke at top point, heading them to the direction of the van where Drew hid since they fled. Lee and Clementine followed behind them while Carley stayed beside Stephanie and Boyd. Vince and Eddie looked left and right, with rifles in their hands as Carlos and Sarah followed them. Nick and his uncle Pete scanned the trees while they walked as Rebecca and Alvin followed them on their trail, with the dog Milly keeping them company.

"Now, you said it was just up here?" Luke asked

"Yeah, straight ahead." Noah replied with Luke and Lee heading up

"Hey, Clem. Noah." they both turned to see Rebecca walking beside them. "Sorry if I gave you two some shit back there. I'm just a little on edge. It's just a tough time with the pregnancy that's all."

"What is Carver after you?" Clementine asked

her eyes popped up wide as she glanced at Clementine. "You mean after me?!" she paused to realized what she outburst. "Oh, you mean us. Well, it's a long story. He has a hard time letting go. I know you did your best back there. You know, none of us wouldn't make it on their own. Sometimes it's hard knowing just how dependent I am on everyone. I'm not use to that. I'm not comfortable with that. I'm suppose to be a mom soon. Guess I need to work on my patience. Alvin and I still don't know what to call her," Noah looked right of his shoulder as he spotted the van. "or him if that man ever gets his wish. God help me." Clementine looked at Noah heading to the van and stopped. "Any ideas? Clem?"

The group stopped as they saw Clementine follow Noah to the van, the van where Drew was hiding in. He caught a glimpse of dead walkers laying on the ground, along with an open crack on the door. What happened here didn't add to Noah. Drew was in a weak position to even leave the van, including escaping from the walkers. Something else happened here, something different. Clementine opened the crack open wide and saw no one inside the van, not even Drew. Noah looked back and motioned his hand for everyone to split up and start searching for Drew. Noah saw Clementine walk toward a bloody trail on the ground, leading her to whatever was behind that boulder where the trail ended. He took out the knife from the cabin and walked cautiously behind Clementine. Both their eyes widened to see the trail end with Drew's guts out in the open with a dead walker. But the most shocking thing was a bullet hole in Drew's head. The others headed to where Clementine and Noah were, their eyes widened with shock and horror at what they saw. Milly whined saddened, nudging her head at Noah.

Stephanie gasped. "Oh my god."

"What happened? What the hell happened?" Nick shouted with a breaking tone in his voice

"He was shot in the head." Carlos said, examining the gunshot impact

Vince looked at Noah. "Did he had a gun with him?"

"No, he didn't." he sadly answered. "Who the hell could've did this?"

"We need to go." Carlos said with everyone leaving the van and heading back to the road

Nick looked at Noah, walking toward him. "Tell me. Tell me how it happened."

"He was bit. It happened down by the river." Noah said sadly. "He saved my life." Noah stated looking down

"Well, that was... that was Drew." Stephanie replied looking away with Nick stopping, being the last behind following the group

"I'm worried about that boy. Drew was a good friend to him who he seem to rely on just like Luke." Pete said glancing back at Nick. "Keep an eye on him for me, would ya?" he asked Noah who nodded his head

"You... sure you still wanna come with us?" Luke asked. "Look, I know we got off on a rough start. And I can't make any promises it won't get rougher."

"We still need to look for Christa and Omid." Lee explained

"They were heading north, right?" Stephanie asked as Noah nodded his head in reply. "Then, so are we. And you guys are going to have a better choice of finding them with us than on your own."

Luke pulled out a map. "I figure we got about four or five days to reach those mountains. Now, if they're trackin' us, we should be able to lost 'em up there."

"Five days?"

Alvin glanced at his wife. "It's gonna be okay, Bec."

"We have to keep moving now." Carlos stated. "It's our only choice."

`0`

Five days later...

After a five day walk, the group came to a stop. Rebecca sat on a rock with Alvin checking up on her. Sarah sat beside Boyd who looked at his drawings he had on his notebook. Carley was talking with Eddie and Vince on what they were heading after they manage to slip off from Carver. Carlos was helping Stephanie and Pete check over their supplies, which appeared to be almost weary. Noah was scoping the area ahead while Lee and Clementine did so with binoclaurs.

"There's the bridge." Lee said to Luke

"Does it look passable?"

"Think so." Lee guessed

"There's a small house by the bridge." Clementine added

"How big is it?" Carlos asked

"It's pretty small." Clementine replied

"I'm seeing a lift up ahead." Noah stated

"Chair lift?" Stephanie inquired. "It must be that ski resort."

Clementine put the binoclaurs down. "I never been skiing."

"I went skiing a few times." Noah mentioned

Clementine looked at Noah. "Really?"

"Yeah. Me and a son of my mom's boss went to Aspen during the winter time." he stated, then looked at Clementine. "I'll teach you skiing someday, Clem."

"Bec and I went once." Alvin said

"It wasn't pretty." Rebecca chuckled

"There's a building up by the mountain." Lee said. "Probably that ski lodge. It's big too. We could stay there."

"That sounds like a good place to spend the night." Eddie agreed

Carlos folded his arms ready to move. "We have to cross that bridge. Let's go."

"Hold on, now." Pete said. "We all can't go sprintin' across that bridge. If we get spotted out there, we're gonna be trapped."

"Going around that lake will take too long." Carlos stated

"That's true, but... we have no idea who's out there." Boyd replied

"Okay, I'm gonna sneak across and make sure it's clear before we bring the whole group over." Luke suggested

"You think splitting up the group is a good idea?" Carlos inquired

"I never saw it was a good idea. But it's better than riskin' everyone at once." Luke said

"What's your plan, Luke?" Pete asked Luke

"Clem, Noah and I can scoot across low and slow and make sure nobody's waitin' for us on the other side." he explained

"We'll have a hard time covering you guys from back there." Vince said

"We turn back when it gets bad quick." Noah stated

"Clementine should stay here. She's..." Carlos trailed off keeping his arms folded together

Noah quirked his eyebrow at Carlos. "She's what?"

"She's a little girl." he finished telling Luke

"I can do it." Clementine said confidently with a hard look on her eyes

"See? No problem." Luke replied

"Look, we'll signal you guys in ten minutes if things turn south." Noah added. "Look for a light at the far side and watch out for us."

Nick stood up from the stump he sat on. "I can go too."

"No. You stay with the group." Luke told Nick

Nick frowned. "I'm fine, Luke."

"No. You're not, Nick." Pete said receiving a glare from Nick which Pete ignored

"I don't like this." Carlos said solemnly

Luke, Clementine and Noah walked down toward the bridge. "Well, when's the last time you liked anything, Carlos?"

"If something happens, I'll cover you." Nick said while they down, making their way to the bridge

"Sorry about that, I just could really use your eyes." Luke explained. "And I don't trust Nick to tie his own shoes. They're just still on edge after the Carver thing."

"It's been five days." Noah stated. "Why the hell is Carver still after us?"

Luke looked at Noah and Clementine while they walked. "What's the most important thing in this world?"

"Food? Safety?" Noah said

"Close. But what's the one thing that's most important?" Luke replied

"Family." Clementine answered

"That's right, family. It's a tough world out there without people you can trust." Luke said with Noah and Clementine following him to the bridge. "Anyways, you can ask Rebecca, okay? I'm not going to get into the middle of it."

"I know what that's like." Noah muttered

"Yeah." Luke agreed

They stopped when they spotted three walkers near the brigde, with one legs gone while it laid on a boulder. The second one was an average walker and the third was a overweight walker. Clementine went toward the first one that laid on the boulder, holding the knife from the cabin while Luke brought out his machete as he sneak behind the second walker. Clementine dug the knife in the walker with no legs, directly in the cranium while Luke sliced off a piece of brain from the second walker. Noah kicked the walker's shin as it broke its own leg, with the claw of the hammer impaled on the walker's skull.

"Whoa!" Luke said seeing Noah take care of the overweight walker. "Give it a nice pull."

"I know what I'm doing." Noah said ignoring him as he pulled the claw out. "I've done this before, remember?" he give a dirty look at Luke. "In a shed?"

"Sorry." Luke said back in a apologetic tone

"It's squashed. Let's get moving on this bridge." Noah replied with him, Clementine and Luke walked toward the bridge

The metal looked rusted and the wood boards looked close enough to breaking from one step. So Noah, Clementine and Luke step to the side of the railroad bridge, not wanting to risk a stepping on the wooden boards just in case. But unfornately, they were surrounded five walkers including one that came from behind. Luke went to deal with one from behind, but both it and him were hanging under the bridge leaving Noah to pull the claw of the hammer off the walkers jaw and kicked it off the bridge. Another came at Clementine when she was trying to move away crossing through, but she slipped and was hanging up as she screamed. Noah ran and bashed a walker coming toward her in the head, follow by a curve stomp to put it out of its misery. Clementine got out and used Luke's machete to kill another walker, pushing it through from the mouth to the back of the head. Noah went to kill the last walker using the claw again on the head, but it remained stuck as he let go watching it fall after Luke got up using a pole Clementine lend him to move up the bridge.

"That shit was close." Noah panted

"Thanks, guys." Luke said to Noah and Clementine, with both of them showing a smile and nodded their heads. "Let's get going." they pressed on ahead when Noah stopped and noticed someone coming, with Clementine and Luke coming to a halt as they looked at Noah. "What is it?"

"I see someone coming." Noah said

"You see him too, Clem?" Luke asked her

"Yeah." she replied

"Just play it cool." Luke said to them as he looked at Clementine. "And you do the talking."

Noah raised an eyebrow. "Why her?"

"Because we don't want to make him mad." Luke stated to Clementine. "And besides, you think he'd shoot a little girl?"

"Think he's with Carver?" she asked him

"It's hard to say." Luke glanced at Noah. "I don't think so."

"Well, who are you?" the man asked, shouting

"Who's asking?" Luke inquired

"I am."

"What do you want?" Clementine asked the man on the other side

"Saw you coming and I thought I meet you halfway."

"Fair enough." Noah whispered to Luke who nodded as the man walked closer, getting a view of the man. "Looks like he coming up." the man was wearing a grey ski jacket with a black hoodie over his head and brown pants, with a goatee on his face

"Huh. You don't look like assholes. Are you assholes? No offense or anything. But you know how it is here."

"We're just people." Clementine said to the man on the other side as he make his way closer to them

"Fair enough." the man in the dark hoodie replied. "You folks heading north like everyone else?"

Noah quirked his eyebrow in confusion at the man. "Like everyone else? What are you talking about?" he asked him

"I see at least one group a day move through here." he stated. "All look the same. It's like a grain migration of the dazed and confused."

"Have you seen two people named Christa and Omid?" Clementine inquired

"Christa and Omid? Maybe."

Noah and Clementine's eyes popped up. "Really?"

"Nah, I mean a lot of people come through here. I don't know." Noah and Clementine's expression saddened a little. "I gotta say, you three look like shit. If you need food, I got some canned goods in that station back there." the man said motioning his head to the small house nearby

"Well, that's, uh... awful nice of you. What's the catch?" Luke asked the blue hooded man crossing his arms

"No catch. I got plenty." he stated

"Huh. Okay then, thanks." Noah said surprised

"Hey, no problem. Nice to run into friendly faces out here. Like I've said, I've got food and supplies back at the station. And if you want..." he paused with wide eyes as he started to aim his rifle at what was behind Noah, Clementine and Luke. The trio saw it was Nick, showing a frightful look on his face with Lee and Pete running toward him. "What the fuck, man?"

"Whoa, relax! He's with use." Luke pleaded while the blue hooded man kept his eyes at the rifle in Nick's hands

"Dammit, Nick!" Pete yelled. "NO!"

"Don't shoo-" Clementine was cut off when Noah covered her from the gunshot that fired as they heard gurgling sounds

"Oh god." Lee said with wide eyes as the blue hooded man was bleeding due to the bullet launched through his throat as he fell off the bridge, with Pete and Luke walking toward Nick with a glare on their faces

"Did I get him? Where is-" Pete cut him off

"What the hell were you thinking, Nick?!"

"What? Who was that guy?" Nick said confused

"Why didn't you want for a signal?" Luke demanded

"He was going to help us." Clementine said

Nick frowned at Clementine. "How do you know?"

"Damn it, boy. I told you not to shoot!" Pete scolded Nick

"How was I suppose to know?! They gave a clear shot!"

"And that shot probably rung out for miles." Lee snarled. "Mind as well let the others know it's clear." he said motioning his hand for the group to come ahead

The group made out of the bridge and toward the station, with Carley helping Stephanie sit Rebecca down on a log. Sarah sat beside her as Clementine was right beside Carley. Milly was with Boyd as he saw Vince and Eddie setting down their supplies. Luke and Pete were in an argument with Nick while made there wasn't anyone walkers near.

"Who was that back there?" Rebecca asked

"Looked like he had a gun on you." Alvin added

"That asshole drew on me! I thought he was going to shoot!" Nick said

"Oh, was he?" Luke asked

"I'm telling you, he drew first!" Nick said defending himself on his own behalf

"Everyone calm down." Clementine begged

"What did you see, Clem? What that thing going to shoot?" Alvin asked

"Fuck you, Luke. You and Pete been on my case for the entire week!"

"And why is that, Nick?" Pete scolded at Nick

"He wasn't going to shoot." Clementine said as Nick glared at her

"I know what I saw." he scowled with Noah glaring directly at him

"Either way, you could've hit fucking one of us!" Noah shouted close to Nick, giving him a shove

"Yeah, but I didn't!" Nick shot back, shoving Noah back

"Boys, enough!" Pete said, now gazing at Nick. "Look, I know you and your mother were close. And Mitchell was a friend to you, but-"

"Don't you fucking talk about them!" Nick snapped

"Was he with Carver?" Carlos asked

"No, we don't know." Lee said. "We don't think so. But he fell over."

"He fell off the damn bridge?" Alvin asked

"He did." Lee replied

"We have to keep moving." Carlos insisted

"I can't... I need a minute."

"Let's give Rebecca a minute. Hell, we all need one." Carley suggested

"Fine." Carlos agreed. "Luke, Pete and Lee, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I'll go check what's inside that station." Noah suggested

"I'll be there in a second, Noah." Alvin said

Noah opened the door and stepped in, and looks like it was small. He looked at one of the cans laying out and found out they were empty, catching a look at the chest laying next to the sleeping cot. He looked around something to pry it open, luckily he found a survivalist knife like the one he had when he was in his first group. He examined it and slash it in the air, getting a good and firm grip on it.

"Feels good. It's sharp too." he said putting the knife back in its sheath. He walked toward the chest and looked at the knife he found. "Let's see if this knife would get that thing open." he wondered as he pulled out the survivalist knife and slipped it behind the lock, prying it completely open. "Jackpot!" he exclaimed finding a couple of canned peaches

"Man... I thought WE had it bad. Look at this dump." Alvin muttered as he examined the room, seeing Noah hold a can of peaches in his hand. "Guess he did have food here. Man, fuck Nick... Nick's lost a lot of people that's for sure, but that doesn't give him any excuse to go and shoot strangers."

"I think he's losing it. He's becoming out of control." Noah stated. "Hope Pete can get him back on track."

"Me too. I mean, have you ever meant someone like that?" Alvin asked

"Actually, I have." Noah replied in regret. "This woman in our group name Lilly. Her dad died and turned... and then she shot a kid name Travis in cold blood for handing over our supplies to bandits back at a motor-inn we stayed at."

Alvin's eyes went wide. "Really? What did you guys do?"

"We left her ass behind." Noah answered bitterly

"Damn..." Alvin muttered as he kneel and pulled out the other can of peaches, letting out a small chuckle. "It's funny. She looks just like Clementine." he said showing Noah a picture of the girl on the can

Noah smiled at Clementine who was talking with Nick outside. "I'm pretty sure she won't be amused by that."

"Listen, Noah, Rebecca's eating for two-" Noah cut Alvin off

"Lips are sealed. She can have it." he said with a small grin crossing his face

"It's a shame. Nick's a good guy, still is." Alvin said

"He just makes some fucked up decisions." Noah added to Alvin who nodded his head in agreement

"God knows we're not perfect. Hell, I'm glad you and the others are with us." Alvin said to Noah who smiled, but it faded away when he caught a glimpse of something on the bridge

Alvin turned his head around and noticed as well. "What the hell?" he said

"Walkers." he muttered as him and Alvin went outside. "Guys, we got a problem."

"We know. Milly gave us a heads up." Lee said with everyone else ready to move. "Let's get a move on, quick!"

`0`

It was night time as the group came to a stop near the ski lodge. Nick, Lee and Carlos crouched down, looking for any signs of danger when Rebecca began panting as she reached the top of the hill.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" she asked exhausted

Carlos looked back at the group. "We have to be careful." he reminded them

Rebecca looked at him. "We've been walking on the road for five days. My back is done being careful."

"Doesn't look like anyone's home." Alvin said as the group stepped onto the deck

"You're right. Maybe no one's here." Noah added

Luke and Clementine observed the ski lift as Noah went toward. "Could probably get a better view up top. You'd have an easier time getting up there. You feel like going up there. It'll be just like a treehouse." Luke said

"I had a tree house... I hated it."

"Oh."

"I'll go with you, Clem." Noah said as Clementine climbed up the ladder, with Noah following her up. "Doing alright, Clem?"

"Yeah, I'm almost there." she said almost heading at the top. "Made it!" she exclaimed as a crow flew away with meeting her up on the lift, giving Noah the binoclaurs. "What do you see?"

Noah looked ahead to see if he spotted anything off in the distance. "Nothing, so far..." he trailed off as he spotted a light off the top section of the bridge. "The hell?"

"What is it?" Clementine asked

"I see a light. And now it's back to the woods." Noah said

"Noah, there's something going on at the deck." Clementine told Noah as he put her on his back

"Alright. Let's see what the commotion is." Noah said as he went down using the ladder while he had Clementine on his back, but he didn't see Lee or Carley anywhere while the group was arguing with a group of three people from the looks of it

"Listen everyone, just stay calm." Luke said trying to ease the situation

"Who are you? Are you trying to rob us?" said a woman with an Indian accent

"Excuse me, honey, but don't I look like a fucking thief?!" Rebecca said agitated

"Everyone, calm down." said another voice

"Hey, you calm the fuck down." Alvin growled

"Sarah, get back up!" Carlos said to Sarah as Lee and Carley appeared behind Noah and Clementine

"Just tell us who you are."

"Look, we're not here to hurt anyone." Stephanie stated trying to calm the argument down

"Listen to what she's saying. Put the gun down." Pete said

"Fuck that!" said a familiar voice to Lee, Carley, Clementine and Noah

"That's voice." Noah said recalling the sudden familiarity of one of the voices

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Luke said trying to calm everyone

"Please... just do what he says." said the woman with the Indian accent with Noah, Clementine, Lee and Carly's eyes widened as they saw a familiar face stare right back at him shocked

Carley gasped. "Oh my god..."

"Holy shit..." Lee said, trailing off with widened eyes

"What the fuck..." Noah trailed off with his jaw dropped

"Kenny?!" Clementine said seeing the face of who her, Lee, Carley and Noah thought were dead was Kenny

"You guys know this man?" Stephanie asked

"Clementine?" he said as Clementine jumped up and hugged him. He looked at Lee, Carley and Noah. "Lee? Carley? Noah?"

"I'll take as a yes." the man in a red sweater said smiling

Kenny glanced at the cabin group, then back at lee, Carley, Clementine and Noah. "These people with you four?"

"They are." Lee replied

"We can talk inside." Kenny said to the four of them

"Great. I just started dinner." the man in the red and black sweater replied

Carlos looked unsure with his arms crossed. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"It's going to storm soon. Please, come in." the man in the red sweater insisted

`0`

They went inside as Lee and Carley saw decorations up and heard classic opera music playing on the radio. Clementine and Noah spotted a huge Christmas over by the lobby while Stephanie, Boyd and Pete stared in amazement. The man in the red sweater was their guide in the ski lodge.

"Kenny and Sarita have been staying with us for several weeks." Walter said. "Obviously, it use to be a ski lodge. So we have plenty of food."

Noah was hardly paying attention until Kenny made the 'blah-blah' gesture, leaving Clementine to chuckle silently.

"Wow."

"What?" Walter asked

"Oh nothing, Walt." Kenny said slapping him on the shoulder. "Walt here is one smart son of a bitch. Makes me mean can of beans too." he finished as the group came inside

"Why would you folks catch up while I have dinner set up?" he looked at the group except for Carlos and Sarah. "Please, make yourselves at home. You can set your things over there." he said pointing at the bench

"The hell we will." Rebecca objected

"Goddamn it." Noah muttered

Stephanie sighed deeply. "Guys..."

"Yeah. I'm holding on to my rifle." Noah said not trusting Walter on his word

"You are our guests here. There's no need to worry."

Nick looked at Kenny. "Tell him to put his gun down, then."

"Damn it, Nick..." Pete muttered, trailing off while he pinched the bridge of his nose

Kenny looked at Lee, Carly, Clementine and Noah. "Guys, you vouch for these people?"

"We do." Noah said as he put his things over the bench, giving the group a stern look. "And I expect everyone to do the same and put their things here."

"I'm with Noah." Stephanie agreed setting her things down under the bench as well along with Pete, Boyd, Eddie and Vince

"So are we." Vince replied. "Guys, will you do the same?" he asked as Sarita, Carlos and Sarah walked in

"Dad, look! A Christmas tree!"

"Not now, Sarah." Carlos denied gently

"Is it great? We found it all in storage." Sarita said

"It is." Sarah said with Sarita and Kenny exchanged a look, with him putting his rifle under the bench along with everyone else putting their things under as well

"Good. If you all could follow me, I'll show you where you can sleep." Sarita said, showing the group around the lodge while Lee, Carley, Clementine and Noah sat with Kenny on the chair

"I can't believe it's you, Ken." Lee said

"Me neither pal." Kenny then looked at Carley. "Good to see ya, Carley." he looked at Clementine, poking at her hat. "Still wearin' this dirty old thing, again?" Clementine smiled as he now turned to Noah. "You know, I half expected to see Tessa walking in with you. You and your mother were like peas in a pod." Noah looked away

"Ken..." Lee trailed off

"Ah, shit. I didn't mean too." Kenny apologized. "It's just hard not to thing about it, you know?"

"Tessa... she saved me. She saved us." Clementine said

"I knew she would." Kenny looked at Noah. "Your mom had a fire on her eyes. Sure as shit. She was a hell of a woman. So..." Kenny stared at the four of them. "Where'd you all end up?"

"We were with Christa and Omid for 16 months. But we ran into some trouble..." Lee paused as Carley touched his hand with hers. "Omid and Christa, they're gone."

"Looks like it hasn't easy for you all." Kenny replied. "I'm sorry."

"Kenny, where you have been?" Carley asked

"All over, under Savannah." he said shrugging his arms.

"How the hell did you get out of that mess?" Lee inquired

"After we got Christa out of that mess in Savannah, me and Doug were trying to get the hell out of dodge. We both got cornered in an alleyway on King street. He pushed me inside a fence gate and well, he..." Kenny looked away. "He didn't make it. Doug saved my life and I wish I could've done the same to save him."

"There was nothing you could've done, Kenny." Lee told him

"Spent a long time after that. Then, uh..." Kenny paused staring off in the distance. "Then I met Sarita. Gosh. It's just great to see you guys again." he concluded with said person

"You five catching up?" she asked

"Guys, Sarita. Sarita this is Lee, Carley, Clem and Noah."

"Hello." Lee greeted

"Hi there." Carley said

"Hey." Clementine said

"Yo." Noah replied

"Nice to meet you four. Kenny has told me all about you four." she said

"I bet he has." Noah said, glancing at Stephanie who smiled at him. "I'll catch you guys later." he told them as he walked toward Stephanie who played a disc on the radio. "What do you think?"

"This place is amazing."

"What CD did you put in just now?" Noah asked her

"It belongs to a concert from someone's cousin." she stated. "It says: cousin Jared's concert. October 16, 1998."

"Sounds classy the way I'm hearing it." Noah joked as Stephanie chuckled

"Hard to believe this place has power through that wind turbine outside." she stated

Noah raised an eyebrow. "Wind turbine?"

"Yeah. You weren't listening, were you?" Stephanie inquired

"Nope. I'm too busy staring at you, so..." Noah trailed off, smirking as Stephanie playfully hit him in the arm

"Flatterer." she said to Noah

"What can I say? I try." he replied as he spotted Carley helped Sarita and Sarah with the Christmas tree while Clementine set up a angel on top. "Besides, I was trying to finish my engineering degree."

"How long were you in college?"

"Two years. I was suppose to take my engineer test too."

"What happened?"

"The outbreak happened the next day and all of this started before I could finish the test." Noah stated rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't even get a chance." he explained. "Anyway, you talked to anyone around here?"

"I talked with Sarita and Walter. They seemed nice." Stephanie stated. "But Walter seems wondered about their friend, Matthew. They said he's been gone for a while now." Noah looked away with his mind on something. "Noah? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, there was something on my mind."

"Like what?"

"That guy Nick shot I can't help shake off this feeling that-"

"Everyone, dinner is served. C'mon let's eat!" Walter exclaimed

The group from the cabin sat on the left, with Stephanie sitting beside them. On the right was Kenny, Sarita and Walter with Lee, Carley and Clementine. Noah was about to sit with Stephanie before Kenny gestured a seat for him as he looked back at her. She nodded for him to sit with Kenny as he went toward where Lee, Carley and Clementine. He sat down, with Walter giving him a bowl of bean and peaches.

"So, guys, what's the deal with that Luke kid?" Noah stopped eating and the other three looked at Kenny. "Do you trust them?"

Sarita sighed looking down. "Kenny..."

"Sarita, we don't know these people."

"Yeah, we trust them." Lee said

"Would you trust him with your life?" Kenny asked them

"I think we already have." Noah replied

"That guy, big Al said they were on the run." Kenny added

"Yeah, they're some people after them." Carley stated. "By some guy they ran away from."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore 'cause they're gone tomorrow. " Kenny declared. "They're staying here tonight."

"If that's what they want." Sarita pointed out as Noah kept his gaze at Stephanie

"Of course it is."

"I don't know about that." Noah said staring at Stephanie. "I like one of them to stay here with us."

Kenny raised an eyebrow at Noah. "What do you mean one of them?" Kenny saw Noah look at Stephanie. "Wait a minute, are you fallin' for that girl?" he asked Noah who ignored him as Walter and Sarita left the table with Luke, Nick and Stephanie sitting in. "Hey."

"Hey there." Stephanie said

"Hey."

"Hope you like the food."

"Oh. It's..." Stephanie trailed off staring at Noah. "it's great. Thank you."

"Peaches and beans. Great for nutrition. Not too great on the way out, though." Kenny said which made and the others stop eating

"Now I lost my fucking appetite." Noah muttered

"Your name is Stephanie." Kenny glanced at Luke and Nick. "So, it's Luke... and Nick. Luke and Nick. You guys sure do make a good match."

Nick frowned at Kenny. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Jesus, Nick. Not now." Stephanie

"I'm just sayin' you look like good friends, that's all."

"So, what was your plan here?" Luke asked. "Hold up for the winter?"

"Actually, we were thinkin' on moving somewhere up north." Kenny replied. "You ever heard of a place called Wellington?"

"Wellington?"

"What kind of a place is that?"

"A good kind, Einstein."

"We were planning to go there with Christa and Omid."

"Supposed to be a big camp up near Michigan."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Michigan?"

"You got a hearin' problem, kid? Yeah, Michigan. Think about it, fresh water, lots of food and cold winters enough so the walkers don't get you."

"It sounds clever." Stephanie admitted

"Sounds like bullshit."

"Goddamn it." Noah swore sensing a shit storm coming

"Listen, Vanilla Ice, I don't know what your deal but you're more than welcome to take off."

"Well that'd be just fine by me."

Kenny glanced at Noah. "What's the deal with these guys, Noah?"

"Hey, fuck you, buddy." Nick growled

"Nick, stop it!" Stephanie hissed glaring at Nick

"It's fine, Nick. We're not stayin'." Luke

"They are." Kenny said with Stephanie looking at Noah

" 'Scuse me?" Luke glanced at Kenny

"You heard me."

"HEY!" everyone looked at Noah. "Enough of this shit!"

"Gentleman, please. There's no need of this." Walter pleaded. "Now look, we'll have had a long day. Please, eat." he said as everyone stopped and went back to eating, with Kenny glancing at Clementine

"Put me that can, Duck." he said as Clementine gasped, with Kenny doing the same once he realized what he said

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Duck? Who's Duck?"

"Duck was Kenny's son." Noah told Luke who looked away in sympathy and sadness

"Hey, Clementine, would you and Noah lend me a hand outside for a moment?" Walter asked as him, Clementine and Noah step out of the lodge

Noah decided to break the silence once they were outside. "That was awkward."

"I'm sorry about that." Walter apologized. "I used to be a teacher. And I remember what it's like to be caught in the middle of two cliques. I suspect they'll find common ground soon enough. It may take a little time, but that's just how these things work." he added. "Everything will be fine." he finished with the trio walking

"I don't know about that." Noah muttered

"Listen, relationship are like any machine." Walter started. "You don't throw them out when they break down. You get your hands dirty and you grease the wheels."

"We're staying her with you guys." Noah told Walter. "Maybe try to convince Stephanie to stay with us."

"Then stay you shall. I know that it'll please Kenny." Walter glanced at Noah. "But, I don't think your friend would stay here. She might go with her group."

"We thought he was dead. I missed him." Clementine replied

"And he missed you, I can assure you." Walter stated as they came to a stop. "Let me tell you a secret. They say the world is over, but it's not. People are more political now than they were before. In the end, we can't change the world. All we can do is continue to learn from each other; to emphasize and use our heads. All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal- Steinbeck. You heard of him?"

Noah shrugged his shoulders. "Not really."

"Well, we have plenty of time to catch up on your reading. My partner Matthew is amassing quite the literature collection. I think you'll like him."

Noah kept thinking on who this Matthew was, having a bad feeling in his gut. The only people he met beside Kenny was Sarita and Walter. Then he thought back to the guy on the bridge, the one that Nick shot. However, his thoughts were cut off when Kenny arrived

"Hey kids. What you three talkin' about?"

"Oh, politics." Walter said

Kenny raised an eyebrow. "The hell?"

"You being from Florida, I would imagine you know about politics, Kenny." Walter stated

"If I know one advantage in the apocalypse, is not dealin' with that shit anymore."

"I never had no love for politics."

"Wanna give me a hand on checking these windows before the storm hits?" Kenny asked

"Sure." Noah replied as him and Kenny spotted a woman looking in the window, with Walter lowering Kenny's rifle

Walter decided to speak. "Miss?" the woman moved away with both her hands in the air

They got a good look at the woman. She had red hair tied back and blue eyes, wearing a hunting vest and a green longsleeve shirt underneath. She had on jeans and with brown heel boots.

"Please. Do you have any food?" she asked in a southern accent

"Are you okay?" Walter asked while Noah checked her weapons to see if she was a bandit or not

"I saw the house, and... I have a family. We're starving." she stated

"She's clean."

"Of course. Why don't you come in, miss..." Walter paused not noticing the woman's name

"Bonnie." she said adressing herself

"I'll bring something onto you then."

"You don't have to do that." Bonnie said

"No, no. it's fine." Walter told Bonnie

"What about your people?" she asked him

"We've got plenty." Walter stated. "You stay put. I'll be right back." he said going back to get Bonnie food as she took a step closer, staring at Clementine

"I have a little girl like you." she said to Clementine with Bonnie's hands on her hips. "How old are you sweetie?"

Clementine folded her arms. "I'm eleven." she said

"I woulda thought older than that." Bonnie replied as Walter handed her the food

"Here you are, miss."

"This is too much."

"Don't mention it. Just help someone along the way."

"I don't know how to thank you. I'll be goin' now."

"Clem, Noah, why don't you two go inside?" Kenny asked glancing at Walter. "Walt and I gotta talk." he said as Clementine and Noah went inside the lodge.

"Psst! Clem. Noah." they both looked to see Luke. "Don't freak out."

"Why don't you go find Lee and Carley, Clem? I need to talk to Luke." Noah sighed as him and Clementine went toward him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Listen, okay? I gotta talk you somethin'." Luke brought out a photo of Walter of Matthew, which turned out to be the guy on the bridge Nick shot. "That guy on the bridge was Walter's friend."

"More like partner actually." Noah corrected with Luke ignoring his correction

"I knew something was off, so I asked Sarita about their friend. Now they're all worried he's not back yet."

"I already figured out Matthew was the guy on the bridge."

"Dammit... Damn it, Nick." Luke swore. "I don't think Walter knows yet. So we have to keep this quiet. I mean, who knows what the hell he might do if he'd find out."

"We need to talk him."

Luke frowned. "He's gonna ask who did it, and you're gonna tell him?"

"He needs to know. It's the right call to make."

"It's right to get Nick killed? Because that's what's gonna happen."

"And if we don't, it'll be on everyone's head." Noah stated to Luke. "Including mines and especially yours."

"If that knife was Matthew's, Walter's gonna put two and two together. We need to get rid of it. So I'll find Walter and run interference. Oh, and watch out for Nick."

"I'm right here. What's up?" Nick said now in front of them

"Nick, there's something you need to know."

"Hey, if there's something goin' on, I wanna know." Nick said in a serious tone

"Remember that guy on the bridge?" Noah asked him as he showed him the photo. "Well..." he trailed off as Nick's eyes went wide

"Oh Jesus. Oh God."

"God. Whoa, Nick, shut the fuck up."

"I can't man, I can't." Nick said panicking

"Don't fucking blow it." Luke frowned pointing at him

"Blow it? It's over. I have to tell him, Luke."

"What? No! You... hey, Nick, you cannot do that. Are you fuckin' nuts?"

"It's risky either way."

"Jesus. I can't handle this." Nick said leaving as Noah saw Walter inside with a sharp object in his hand as Lee was inside with him

Luke turned to Noah. "Look, Noah, just take care of that thing I mentioned. Okay?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Noah told Luke

Luke raised an eyebrow at him."What are you talking about?" he asked as Nick went outside where Lee and Walter

"He already found it, Luke. Lee's outside with him already." Noah saw Nick outside with them as well. "And so is Nick right now." he said as Walter turned to look at Nick with the knife in his hand

"Shit!" Luke swore. "We need to do something."

"No, it's all up to Nick."

"We need to do something, now. He's gonna to kill now."

"No. he won't." Noah replied as Walter dropped the knife now glancing at the wind turbine before looking down. "We need to get outside. Like right now." Noah ran outside seeing the wind turbine speed out of control, with everyone except Sarah, Rebecca and Alvin from the lodge coming out to see the commotion. "We got to take care of turbine, Ken. We need to turn that thing off." Noah declared to Kenny as Pete gave everyone their weapons while Noah picked up the knife

"You're right. That thing's gonna be a goddamn diner bell for walkers." Kenny said with everyone heading out to the wind turbine

"The storm's spinning that thing out of control!" Lee exclaimed as they heard a beat, seeing the lights to the lodge shut off. "Power's out!"

"Dammit. Transformer musta gone out. Gotta check it." Kenny glanced at the group. "I could use a hand."

"I'll go with you." Luke said

"I'm going too." Sarita added

"No. it's too dangerous." Kenny glanced at the rest of the group. "Rest of you, get this thing shut down." he said with him and Luke heading for the transformer as Noah opened the door to the turbine outlet

"Does anyone know who to do this?" Carlos asked as Stephanie saw Noah get to work with Clementine showing a light of the controls using the lighter she found two months ago

"He does." she said pointing at Noah who took the key off the holder as he inserted it into the switch, turning the key inside as the wind turbine begin to shut off

"Somethin' ain't right." Pete said

"Yeah, you're right. It's too-" Lee was cut off when Carley spotted something

"We got walkers!" she yelled shooting one in the head

Everyone except Noah started firing at walkers, with Clementine taking cover behind a rock as she fired out a shot. Noah took out the survivalist knife and struck a walker's head with it. He pulled the .38 pistol Sarah found and three walkers in the eye, leading to the brain after Clementine was out of ammo. Another appeared behind Noah only for Carlos to shot it in the head.

"Run! Go!" he shouted to Clementine and Noah as one of them snuck behind him, only for Carlos to shoot it in the head and ran without grabbing his rifle while Noah went for the rifle

"Clem!" Noah yelled for her name as he heard scream, with a sharp object impaled on a walkers head as she ran toward him. "Let's get back inside." he said noticing Walter had shot a walker trying to chomp Nick and went to help the others. "Thank god he didn't shoot him."

They ran inside where Stephanie, Sarah, Boyd, Rebecca and Alvin in the lobby. Then suddenly, they started to hear gunshots. But something was different, it was automatic firing instead. They looked outside the window to see every walker shot down, with the last one being shot by a revovler. The two people were unknown to them but Noah and Clementine knew the third was Bonnie. And the person she was with was Carver himself. Where the four of them had surrounded Lee, Carley, Pete,

"What the fuck..."

"Carver!" Rebecca said frightened as Carlos spat at Carver's face, only for him to receive a right hook across the face

"DAD!" Sarah cried out

"Sarah, wait!" Stephanie called out to her, but was too late as Sarah already

"Everyone, upstairs!" Noah whispered as they went up, with Carver and his men bringing the people they captured inside

Noah and Clementine peeked to see the others inside, with everyone having their hands tied together. Him and Clementine went down as Carver scanned the room, with Noah taking a quick look. The only one that weren't with them was Luke and Kenny, along with Vince and Eddie who had the Siberian husky Milly with to make sure they were no walkers. He saw Carver grabbed Carlos and hit him in the gut. He demanded Carlos to tell him where Rebecca was, but he ignored Carver and told Sarah was going to be okay. In the next, one of Carlos' finger to broke by Carver who screamed in pain. Clem and the others didn't know what to do. Either showed themselves or watch one of them get killed as Carver Carlos' other finger and held a knife toward his throat. Without further ado, Noah sneak out the window as he decided sneak in order to look for Kenny, Luke, Vince or Eddie.

A moment later, he found Kenny but not Luke, Vince, or Eddie. Kenny told Noah that he didn't know where Vince and Eddie were, told Luke to get lost. Noah wanted Kenny not to shoot while he tried to figure out the situation. They spotted Clementine, Stephanie, Rebeeca and Alvin down the stairs surrendering themselves as Kenny aimed his rifle at one of them wearing a beanie. Noah told Kenny not to, but he preceed away and killed one of Carver's men. And to make matters, Carver brought Walter out and shot him in the back of the head. After seeing Walter get killed, Kenny fired off two more shots that missed Carver as he grabbed Alvin next and prepared to kill them. Then all of a sudden, Noah saw Clementine charge in to save Alvin but was elbowed in the gut as Carver grabbed her pointing the revovler at her face.

"Clementine!" Noah whispered as he looked at Kenny. "Kenny, don't shoot him!"

Kenny looked at Noah, then at Clementine. "Stay down. Find Vince and Eddie. I don't know about Luke." he said as he stood. "Okay, I'm comin' out!" he shouted as he walked slowly to the lodge with Bonnie aiming her AK-47 at him

Noah watched Lee, Clementine, Carley, everyone being dragged away out of the lodge. He waited until the coast was clear as Noah went looking for Luke, Vince and Eddie. Then all of a sudden, he was tackled and being licked by Milly around back. With the Siberian husky was Vince, Eddie and Luke as they went inside the lodge. They looked seeing the dead corpse of Walter as they entered the lobby. Vince opened the door to the storage room as he found a crossbow, a hunting rifle and shotgun along with taking all three and boxes of ammo. Eddie went and took medical supplies while Luke got the food packed up. Noah on the other hand grabbed the hunting knife with the survivalist knife on both of his sheath.

"Alright, so, what's the plan?" Luke asked the three of them, with Milly looking at Noah letting out a short bark

"We get our people back. That's the plan." Noah declared


	8. In Harm's Way

Chapter 8: In Harm's Way

Noah and the others have been on Carver's trail ever since he kidnapped everyone in the ski lodge after holding them hostage and killed Walter in cold blood. Noah used Milly the Siberian husky to track their scent while Vince followed behind him, with Luke and Eddie carrying the supplies. Seeing the group out of breath, Noah motioned his hand for them to stop. Eddie and Luke set the supplies down on the ground, with Noah opening a can of beans to feed to Milly while Luke and Vince went ahead to scan the area around. Eddie took out a can of beans as he opened the lid, taking in a few bites for himself. They decided to call it a night, continue on tracking the others who were taken by Carver in the morning.

"It's been two days." Noah said with Eddie looking at him. "We need to keep looking for them. We deal with Carver first and then get the hell out of dodge."

"Dude, it's not that easy." Eddie said. "Carver's got that place fucking fortified. Guards stay on watch 24/7 keeping an eye on the community." he stated as Luke and Vince made it to the camp

"Is there at least a way in, right?" Noah inquired

"There is. But it won't be easy, even with Carver's men keeping watch." Vince stated. "There's a high chance walkers will surround that place. It's like a eye in the storm."

Noah poured some water for Milly to lick. "I'll take it either way."

"Hold on, Noah. We need to think this through." Luke said. "If the four of us start going in with no way out, we're caught. Worse if we get spotted by walkers."

"That and we're gonna need a fucking car to catch up with them since they found a truck yesterday." Eddie added

"We can use a car til the near end where the hardware store." Vince said, reloading his gun while he glanced at Noah. "That's where the truck will take them. Through the back entrance."

Noah glanced at Vince and Luke as he patted Milly's head gently. "So, how do we sneak in?"

"There's a way in through the comic book store near the hardware store. It's got a deep hole that's covered in plywood we used to escape from there before." Luke stated. "It should work well enough for us."

"Then, that's how we get-" Noah was cut off by Milly growled and barked left of her, with Vince and Luke aiming their rifles at the direction. Noah and Eddie followed through, drawing at their pistols at the moving bush. "Are you dead or alive? If alive, you can come of that bush!"

"Alright, alright. We're coming out! Don't shoot!" said a sudden voice familiar to Noah as two people step out of the bush, with Noah's eyes going wide

One of them was a chubby light brown haired man, with a mustache and goatee on his face wearing a brown coat and green cargo pants. He was in his early thirties possibly 30 years old, carrying a police officer's shoutgun in his gun that had a warning of caution in his hazel eyes. There was also a 20 year old that looked familiar to Noah beside the man in his thirties. He had shaggy brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a blue denim jacket with a white baseball jersey, a black t-shirt underneath and blue jeans. He held a K-Bar knife in his hand while another was on his shealth. On his holster was a desert eagle and another holster was on his chest, even the same desert eagle. Both of their eyes widened with shock when they noticed Noah, with both lowering their weapons.

"Doug?" Noah shifted his gaze to the other. "Ben?! How the hell are you alive?"

Ben began scratching the back of his head. "I take it that you're surprised that we're both alive."

"You think?" Noah inquired in half sarcasm and shock

"Noah." all three turned to their gaze at Luke. "You know these two?"

"Yeah..." Noah trailed off staring back at Doug and Ben. "This is Doug." he pointed at Doug, then at Ben. "And that is Ben Paul. They were in my old group." he stated to Luke, Vince and Eddie. "Now back to my question:" Noah glanced back at Doug and Ben. "How you two still alive?"

"After that I threw Kenny away on that fence gate back in Savannah, I hacked god knows how many walkers as I could." Doug sat down on a log beside the camp. "After an hour of running from those damn walkers, I hid in a abandoned antique store." Doug glanced at Ben. "That's where I found out Ben was alive, covered in walker muck."

"Yeah, about that? After I loosen the grip Lee had on me, a walker broke my fall and covering me with its guts." Ben stated. "But the weird thing was that the walkers didn't try to me. I think it was because they thought I was one of them."

"All because you were covered in that muck. That's how me, Lee, Carley and Clem got out of Savannah." Noah said remembering how they escaped Savannah alive before they met back with Omid and Christa

Ben looked down with a sad look. "Doug told me about your mother, Tessa and what went on with you guys. I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault, Ben. You weren't there." Noah told Ben waving his hand off in the air

"Wait a minute. Hold up..." Noah and Ben gazed at Vince and Luke. "How do you three know Tessa?"

Noah raised an eyebrow at how they knew his mother's name. "How do you know my mother?"

Luke and Vince looked startled. "Mother? Wait..." Luke trailed off pointing at Noah. "You're Noah Kane? Tessa's son?" he asked Noah who nodded his head. "Oh, shit."

"And I bet as soon as you guys locked him in a shed, Tessa was probably giving you a dirty look from above." Vince joked to Luke. "If she were here, she'd kick your ass."

"How do you two know my mother?" Noah asked the two of them

Vince decided to speak first. "When it was just me and Wyatt, we met her for about eighteen days before we found Russell, Bonnie, Shel and her sister Becca. She talked about heading to Savannah for some reason. Think she was trying to head back to Atlanta. I don't know why she might, but I think it was because she thought you were there." he explained

"She met me when I was with Nick, Pete and Nick's mom Marie." Luke stated. "Her and Pete were dating for a while before the outbreak happen."

"Wait, my mom and Pete were..." Noah trailed off, noticing a small smile on Luke's face

"Yep. And if they got married, that would make Nick your-" Noah cut Luke off with a dirty look.

"Luke. If you finish that sentence, I'm kickin' your ass." he threatened

"Okay, okay." Luke said, putting his hands in the air in surrender while Eddie poured water on the camp

"Anyway, we should get some sleep." he said. "I'll take watch. You guys can rest. Vince, you or Luke could take watch after me." Eddie remained on watch

"Sounds like a plan. Time to hit the sack."

`0`

Noah woke up as he spotted Eddie, Luke and Ben still asleep while Vince and Doug were up. Then all of a sudden, Milly's ear perked up as she woke up barking as she caught off a quick scent. She ran straight on ahead leaving Noah, Vince and Doug to chase after her. Noah ran at top speed, tackling Milly to the ground with Vince and Doug stopping toward him. Milly whimpered, moving her head straight as Noah saw Clementine and Sarah tied behind their hands with cuffs. He also noticed one of the men, Bonnie and Carver himself with Noah about to get there until Vince grabbed his arm.

"Stay here." he whispered

Noah shifted a glance at Vince. "What do you mean stay here?" he asked whispering

"We can't risk them getting hurt. And we have not weapons." Vince stated

"Shit, you're right!" Doug realized. "What do we do?"

Vince glanced at Doug. "Doug, you and me are going to walk out there while Noah lets Luke, Eddie and Ben know." Vince shift his glance at Noah. "You guys follow these tire tracks. Find a car and keep on their trail until you're out of the woods."

"Watch yourselves." Noah glance at Doug. "You especially."

"You got it." Doug said as him and Vince step out of the bushes, heading toward Carver and his group. "Easy. We're unharmed."

Carver glanced at Vince who narrowed his eyes at him. "Vince. Been a while, hasn't it?"

"You have no idea." he muttered as Vince glanced at Bonnie. "Bonnie."

"Hey." she said back, looking away

"Anyone else with you? Where's Luke? Eddie? And that kid?"

"It's just me and this guy." Vince said pointing at Doug. "They bolted."

"All because of Luke, no doubt." Carver glanced at his Troy and Bonnie. "Tie these two up and put them in with the rest of them." he ordered as Noah grabbed Milly's dog collar

"Come on, girl. Don't worry, we're getting them back." Noah said as him and Milly ran back to the group, making their way back to the camp

"Noah, where's Vince and Doug?" Luke asked

"We spotted Carver. Vince and Doug gave themselves up and told me to get you guys." Noah stated seeing all three shocked. "He said stay on the trails with the tire tracks using a car until we're out of the woods." he glanced back at Luke. "You know what that means?"

Luke nodded his head. "Let's head out."

"Doug and I spotted a car at a ranger station nearby. I could take you there." Ben said

"Good, lead the way." Luke said with Ben leading them to the ranger station, where a car was parked at

`0`

After taking ranger's jeep drove in the woods at night, following the tire tracks of the truck group was held on as the headlights were on. Noah was driving as Luke was in the passenger seat, while Eddie and Ben were on back with Milly. All three except Noah looked around, making sure they was no sign of walkers in the area. There was a long silence during the drive as Ben decided to speak, breaking the pregnant slience.

"How was Lee and the others?" he asked Noah who was driving the jeep. "Before they got captured, I mean."

"They were alright." he said. "We met with Christa and Omid for sixteen months, but we got seperated from a bandit attack. That's when we met Luke and his group, but had to leave when Carver came looking for them. We headed north to a ski lodge and that's where we found out Kenny was alive." Noah stated as Ben's eyes suddenly went wide

Ben's eyes went wide. "Kenny's alive?" he asked in a shocked tone

"Yeah, he is." Noah answered

"Think he's still pissed at me?" Ben inquired looking away. "You know, with Katjaa and Duck?"

"I honesty don't know." Noah replied, not knowing if Kenny was over blaming Ben on Katjaa and Duck's death. "I talked to him back in Savannah, told him how you didn't know what became of your family. I think he calmed down, but I still don't know."

Luke glanced at Noah and Ben. "Why would Kenny be mad at him for?"

"Because he was the one giving our supplies to a group of bandits from the save lot back at Macon. In the end, he thought it was best for the group. During their raid, Duck was bit." Noah explained as Ben looked away. "After Duck was getting worse, Lee told him that he would put Duck out of his misery. Then..." Noah looked down for a second and had his eyes staring at the road. "Katjaa killed herself so she wouldn't see her son Duck die. And after Lee shot Duck, Kenny was in a worst mess."

"Jesus Christ." Eddie said shocked. "Did he ever know?"

"Yeah. Ben told him while we were in this place called Crawford back in Savannah. And once Kenny found out, he was super pissed." Noah replied. "He wanted to tear Ben's head off after he found out, even deciding to leave Ben in Crawford when it was overrun by walkers."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Luke said. "Kenny looks like he's almost broken. And broken men often do reckless things."

"I hope that he doesn't go down that path." Noah muttered. "God, I hope he doesn't. But if he does..." he trailed off, gripping a hold of the Glock 17 in his hand

Luke looked forward as the trail almost ended. "Stop the car. And turn off the lights too." he said as Noah did stopped the car and turn the headlights off. "All we gotta do is walk where the comic store is, open the hidden hatch and go inside. Should be easy enough." Luke added as Noah and everyone else step outside, crouching down where they spotted the hardware store expansion.

"So that's Carver's 'community'? Place could give Crawford a run for its money." Noah said to Ben

"The comic book store is to our right. Down left behind the store he is a secret hatch we used to escape." Eddie explained. "Area looks clear enough."

"Yeah, let's get moving." Luke said as the others ran up ahead

Noah, Eddie and Ben followed Luke to the entrance, where they suddenly saw a pack of walkers coming out of the woods. They speed things up as the others went right finding the comic book store, leaving Luke and Eddie to work on finding the entrance while Noah and Ben kept watch with Milly the Siberian husky's help. But, more and more walkers kept slowly approaching. Eddie felt a pressure crack as he busted the crack open as Luke moved a lever, with the hatch opening a way inside. Luke motioned everyone to go in while he was the last to close the hatch, shutting it closed.

Noah and Ben looked around the comic book store, leaving the shelves to be barely empty as Eddie took out supplies. Milly laid down completely exhausted while Luke walked over to the supplies, tossing everyone a couple of canned peaches left and a few bag of snacks from a vending machine at the ranger's station. Luke grabbed a bottle of water and gave it to Ben, leaving him to pour some with Milly taking in a few sips after Ben had a couple of sips of his own. Noah was eating off a couple of protein bars, letting Milly to eat off a can of beans while Eddie finished eating a bag of chips with no after taste whatsoever.

"Place should be good enough for us to stay in until we get everyone out somehow." Luke said. "Tomorrow, Ben and I will look for either Lee, Kenny, Clementine or Rebecca." Luke glanced at Eddie. "Eddie, you and Noah try to look for Vince, Carley, Stephanie or Carlos. But I think they'll put him as the medic down at the infirmary."

"And then what?" Ben asked staring at Luke

"We'll just meet back here tomorrow." Eddie stated. "And don't let anyone see you, especially fucking Carver."

"Then let's hit the hay. It's going to be one helluva day." Noah said as he went to sleep, along with Ben and Eddie, except for Luke who decided to keep watch

`0`

After they overslept with it being 10 in the morning, Noah and Eddie went looking for the others as Luke and Ben did the same. Eddie lead while Noah followed, sneaking the hardware store quietly as they spotted Carver inside in the main office a floor up. Once inside, they casually walked in as they try to make themselves part of the community. Eddie lead Noah upstairs to Carver's office, where they spotted Alvin beaten to a pulp with wide eyes.

"Jesus Christ, Alvin!" Eddie ran toward the unconscious Alvin, feeling a barely beaten pulse with his finger on Alvin's neck. "He's still alive. Thank god."

"Eddie..." Noah trailed off still making sure anyone was not coming up and down to Carver's office

"Right, right. We need to find the others." Eddie and Noah went upstairs to the roof as they slowly opened the door, leaving a crack. "I see Clementine and Sarah. But I think we shouldn't go out."

"Think Carver's outside?" Noah asked whispering

"It's possib-" Eddie was cut off when he spotted a familiar face, but all Noah saw was a balding man with a missing arm. "Shit. Reggie!"

"No, no, Bill! Please!" he said in a pakistanian accent as Carver walked toward him angrily, grabbing the collar of his shirt

"Carver!" Noah and Eddie looked as they saw Boyd glaring at Carver. "Enough! Leave him alone."

"I didn't give you permission to speak, Boyd." Carver growled who walked Regi near the end of the roof

"I can speak my own voice." Boyd snarled. "And what I see in front of me, is a sociopath beating around anyone who can't defend themselves. You think you're all tough, don't you? But the only thing you are is a bully who intimdates and threatens anyone not on your side. Hitting women, beating children, is that what makes YOU toughtier than us!? You're no leader, just a psychopathtic asshole. You're only a monster and I hope you burn in hell when you die!" Boyd barked keeping his glare fixed on Carver

Carver glared back as he threw Reggie beside Clementine and Sarah. "Is that so?" he asked growling. "You wanna know one thing different about you and me, Boyd?" Carver the collar of Boyd's sweater. "I'm alive, but you WON'T be!" he shouted as he threw Boyd off the roof, whose body slammed into the ground hard

Eddie and Noah's eyes were widened with shock and horror at what they just witnessed. Boyd was killed by Carver in cold blood, right in front of Clementine and Sarah. Especially Reggie who was more horrified as well. Boyd defended him and stood up to Carver, only to be thrown off the roof. He looked down at Boyd's lifeless body, his head bleeding a part of his brain out on the pavement. Reggie looked away and induced vomiting from his mouth on the right side of where Boyd's body was.

"He... he..." Eddie trailed off still shocked

"That fucker killed Boyd. He's... he's gone." Noah said also shocked, but shook it off a second later. "Eddie. Eddie!" Eddie glanced at Noah with a horrified look on his face. "We need to move. Now!"

"Yeah... yeah, you're right." Eddie said, shaking himself off from the shock. "Jesus Christ..." he trailed off with him and Noah heading downstairs, remaining casual as possible

"I still can't believe he did that to Boyd." Eddie said as they step out

"Me too. Vince and the-" Noah cut himself off when he spotted Doug, Nick and Stephanie constructing a wall using bricks. "There they are. We need to hide."

"Over there." Eddie pointed to where under the support beam outside as him and Noah silently walked, sticking to the shadows. Stephanie wiped the sweat off her forehead as she made her way to grab more bricks for the wall, only for Eddie to covered her mouth and grab her from behind. "Stephanie, Stephanie." Eddie whispered as Noah was in front of her

"It's us. Noah and Eddie." he assured. "Luke's with us while he's telling the others with a friend of mine."

Eddie removed his hand from her mouth so Stephanie could speak. "Eddie?" she glanced at Noah. "Noah? Oh thank god!" she said with relief as she hugged Noah in a embrace and kissed him on the lips, leaving him stunned for a moment when she pulled her lips away from his. "Thank god you guys are alright. And you say Luke's with you too?"

"Yeah, and someone from my old group name Ben Paul." Noah said. "You know what's going here?"

"They're having us increased and building a wall to keep the walkers away from the expansion as soon as possible." Stephanie replied. "I think Carver believes there's going to be a large herd coming."

"He's not lying either. We saw a large herd last night when we came here." Eddie stated to her. "Luke said he was going to explain his plan to Lee, Kenny and the others. As soon as you all get back to where they're keeping, Lee will explain the plan."

"That's good. We also need to grab as much as food and supplies we need whenever we leave." Stephanie added. "Boyd should have the key to the food supplies." she stated as Noah and Eddie looked away, which led them to tell her what happened to Boyd. "Guys? What's wrong?"

Noah looked at Stephanie with a sad look. "Stephanie... Boyd's dead."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"He's dead, Stef. Carver killed him on the roof." Eddie told her. "He just threw him straight off

"Oh god..." she trailed off, crying on Noah's shoulder. "Boyd...!"

"I know this is hard for you, but you have to stay strong." Noah said to Stephanie, trying to comfort her during her shock to know that Boyd was dead. "We're going to stick with the plan and get the fuck out of this place."

Eddie spotted someone coming close. "Noah, we need to go." he whispered

Noah looked at Stephanie as he wiped the tears off her face, cupping her cheek with his hand. "We have to go. Just... stay safe, okay?" he replied giving Stephanie a brief kiss on the lips as him and Eddie went out the other side of the homestead quietly

`0`

It was now night time as Noah and Eddie regrouped with Luke and Ben. Luke told them the plan. It was simple: Let one of the others grab the walkie-talkie while Ben took the other one. Find out what's going on and how Carver plans to deal with the huge walker herd outside the walls. Get food and supplies, then leave the first chance they get.

"Tomorrow, we need to leave." Eddie declared

"No we don't." Luke replied. "We stick with the plan, Eddie."

Eddie looked at Luke with disbelief. "Plan?! He fucking killed Boyd, Luke!"

"I know he did, man. Clem told me what happen." Luke stated sadly. "All that matters is that someone gets one of the radio walkie-talkies. After that, we can work out our plan on getting' outta here."

"And what happens if we're fucked?" Ben retorted crossing his arms. "Who knows what the hell that guy will do next? He could killed them tomorrow for no damn reason."

"As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, we're golden." Luke said to Ben. "All that matters is that we don't blow it."

Ben glanced at Noah, who's mind was something else. "Noah, what do you think we should do?"

Noah looked at Ben, Luke and Eddie. "We can listen to see what's going on with those walkie talkies. We can escape the day after tomorrow, but if things went south fast we might have to leave tomorrow night." he stated. "For now, we should get some rest at least. It's going to be a long ass day tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right." Ben agreed laying down. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow." he said shutting his eyes

"Damn right." Eddie also agreed as him and Luke went to sleep, with Noah being last to fall asleep. "I hope to God that this doesn't fuck up."

`0`

After waking up and doing their mainly routine ever since they snuck inside, Noah and Ben pretended to part of the community. Everyone knew who Luke was except for Eddie, but he found out his friend Wyatt was here so he had to remain hidden from him. Wyatt was easy to spot, wore glasses, dirty blonde hair and beard. Russell was the one with dark skin, showing a wary look to others he didn't seem to trust. Then there was Shel and her sister Becca, the two people Stephanie and Boyd knew before Vince, Bonnie, Wyatt and Russell. Noah and Ben walked around the homestead secretly, making sure not to be seen by Carver or others like Troy and Tavia Luke mentioned.

"What's on your mind, Ben?"

"It's just that..." Ben paused as he looked left and right, now glancing at Noah. "I'm getting this bad feeling that our plan is screwed."

"What makes you think-" Noah was cut off when Ben stopped him. "What are you...?" he trailed off seeing Ben cock his head as he saw the others. "Look to over who that Carlos guy is tending to." Ben added whispering

"The fu- That's Luke!" Noah exclaimed whispering, feeling a hand touch his shoulder

"Guys, it's just me." the voice turned out to be Eddie. "Fuck, is that Luke?!"

"Yeah, it is." Ben answered Eddie with as he punch the wall

"Shit!" he swore seeing Carver pace left and right.

"And how it is that we're repaid for our trust? With treachery? With deceit? With theft!" Carver scowled

"How the hell did they catch Luke?" Ben whispered to Noah and Eddie

"I don't know. We split up near the storeroom and Luke went somewhere else." Eddie explained. "I didn't know he would get fucking caught."

"We need to do something." Noah declared

Carver held out the walkie-talkie in his hand. "Whatever you were planning is over... it's done. You can't just run from your problems. You can't just up and leave when it gets tough... 'cause there's nowhere else you can go where it ain't. Tough is all we got, now. Get that through your fuckin' skulls." Carver took a quick glance at Luke. "Luke here, he can't help you now. You gotta help yourselves... you gotta help me find the strength to forgive you."

"I fucking doubt it." Noah muttered

"I'm gonna count to three. If that radio ain't in my hand by then, we'll have to make things more difficult." Carver said giving them an ultimatum

"Oh, fuck!" Eddie swore whispering

"One... two..."

"I go-" Clementine was interrupted by who took the radio away from her

"I got it right here!" he said holding it in the air

"Kenny, what the fuck are you doing?!" Ben muttered in shock

"I'll be fine." Kenny reassured Sarita as he walked toward. "Sorry about that. I don't know what came over me back there."

"Three." Carver ended with Noah, Ben and Eddie shocked

Kenny frowned as he sent a glare at Carver. "heh... fucker." he said only for Carver to hit him the left side of his face with the walkie-talkie in his face, knocking him down

"NO!" Sarita yelled

"Jesus Christ! Stop!" Kenny begged receiving another hit

"You don't have to do this, Bill!" Luke pleaded

Carlos grabbed Sarita. "Clementine, help me!" he said as Clementine instead ran to help Kenny, only to be receive a hit from a rifle butt to her face

"You little shit..." Troy growled as Lee glared at him, punching Troy square in the jaw

"You don't touch her!" Lee yelled, landing another while Doug head butted Hank and threw him toward Tavia

"Carver, stop! Leave him alone!" Stephanie yelled rushing to help Kenny, only for her to get a smack across her cheek from Carver

"You son of a bitch!" Noah yelled, tackling Carver to a wall.

"There ya are." he snarled. "Knew you pop up eventually."

Stephanie got up and walked toward the pinned Carver with a glare on her face. "There's something I want to say to you." she said, spitting blood on Carver's face as he glared daggers at Stephanie. "That's from Boyd, you bastard."

"Who the hell do you think-" Noah was cut off when Carver head butt as he reached for his gun, Stephanie she bit his hand, making Carver use his other hand to slap and toss her on the floor

"You got a lot of fuckin' nerve to pull what you just did, Noah." he growled glaring at Noah, cracking his knuckles. "Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you some discpline manners."

"Looks like I'm gonna have to break your fucking face." Noah threatened pounding his fist into his hand

"Is that so?"

"That so."

Carver launched the first punch, leaving Noah to dodge and sent a kick toward Carver's chest followed by a left hook across his face. He launched his right fist, only for Carver to grab his fist and punch him in the gut as he wrapped his arm around his neck, choking him. Noah bit on his hand with blood drawing out as he eblowed Carver's stomach, along tackling him to the ground. He gave Carver the one-two punch, left and right across his face and again as he was about to receive a rifle butt from behind until Ben tackled the guard landing a punch toward the guard's jaw. Ben and Eddie were both knocked out as they pulled Noah off of Carver, holding him trapped. Carver got up and noticed something on his neck, moving his finger to grab what was on his neck when he spotted a necklace.

"I'm be taking this now." he said ripping the necklace off of him. "You won't be needing it anytime soon."

"Motherfucker! Give that back, you bastard!" Noah snarled only for Carver to punch him in the face, landing another one again until Bonnie walked in with Wyatt, Russell, Shel and Becca

"Bill! That's enough, please!" she yelled. "Bill, there's a breach."

Carver glanced at Bonnie and punched Noah afterward as the guards let go of Noah. "All right. Everyone come with me. Bonnie, you Wyatt, Russell and Shel stick around. Make sure these folks don't get in anymore trouble."

"Yeah." she said as Carver and the others left, leaving the ruthless dictator himself to come to a halt

"No supper for y'all tonight. Maybe an empty stomach will put things in persceptive for ya... then we'll try this again tomorrow." he declared leaving while Stephanie placed Noah's head on her lap

"Noah..." she glanced at Carley doing the same for Clementine with Lee showing a bruise on the left cheek of his face

"Do your best with him, Carlos." she said with Sarita on her knees with Carlos checking on Kenny. "You need to get him able to move 'cause we're leaving tonight." Bonnie declared with everyone's eyes wide went shock. "We're leavin' tonight."

"Are you fucking insane, Bonnie?" Russell inquired

"We need to leave, Russell." she stated

"I'm not leaving." he stated also, folding his arms

"Then go tell Carver we're leaving." Bonnie shot back

Russell's eyes popped up as he looked away. "Nevermind." he muttered

`0`

Noah slowly woke up as Stephanie was resting on his chest, falling asleep until she could get up. He also noticed the group arguing about the plan. Noah looked around and saw Carlos doing what he could for Kenny, with Rebecca and Carley comforting a sobbing Sarita. Lee paced himself back and forth arguing with Luke, leaving him to arch his back to wake Stephanie up. She looked up and hugged him.

"What's going on?" he asked Stephanie as he got up, with her standing up from where she sat

"Bonnie said she could get us out while Wyatt, Russell, Shel and Becca went to get their hands on whatever. Like weapons, food, medical supplies... anything they could get once they hear the PA systems." she explained

Noah cupped her cheek where Carver slapped her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Stephanie stated. "Carver didn't bang me up to worse."

"We could use them to. We need to leave here, tonight." Noah agreed, walking toward the group as Clementine hugged him seeing the others relieved he was alright. "I'm fine, Clem. Where the hell is Kenny?" he asked seeing everyone except Sarita who still cried look away

"Doc's over there workin' on him. It don't look good." Luke sadly stated as Carlos walked toward him, seeing the doctor show a sad look leaving Sarita to look up at him with tears in her eyes

Noah glanced at where Kenny laid, then back at Carlos. "Give it to me straight, Carlos, how is he?"

"His optical is crushed... I don't think there's much hope for the eye." he stated. "I got him as stable as I could. Cleaned it, got some of the swelling down and bandaged it as best I could..." Carlos trailed off looking down. "But until he wakes up... we won't know if there's any damage to the brain." he concluded with Sarita going back to crying

"Ah, shit." Pete swore under his mouth

"Okay, look... maybe I'm just playin' devil's advocate here, but if... dammit if you're serious about goin' tonight, then we're gonna have to start talkin' about..."

Pete narrowed his eyes at Luke who looked down. "What are you sayin', son?"

"Maybe leave some folks behind." he finished

"No!" Sarita denied

"The fuck you just say...?!" Eddie exclaimed in disbelief

"There's no other way." Luke stated sternly

"This is bullshit." Rebecca muttered

"Well, I don't like it. But guess what? It's where we're at."

"You can't be fucking serious?!" Stephanie said shaking her head in disbelief. "I can't even believe what you're saying right now!"

"Kenny and I are only here because of you. And now you tend to leave us."

Carlos shrugged his shoulders. "So we should risk all our lives?"

Rebecca frowned at him. "What are you saying?"

"Not- nothing. I'm just thinking out loud here." Carlos sighed in defeat

"Fuck. That." Noah disagreed. "We are not leaving Kenny."

"He's right. That's not fair." Clementine agreed. "We stay together."

Lee and Carley crouched down to her level. "It's not like that, Clementine. Believe us, honey." Carley said in a reassuring tone

"That's right, sweet pea." Lee reassured. "No one here wants to leave Kenny."

"Good..." everyone turned around to see Kenny standing steadily. "'Cause you won't have to." he said leaving Sarita to embrace him in a hug. "I'm alright, hon."

"Holy shit." Eddie said amazed.

"So we're leaving tonight? And the plan doesn't change?" Ben inquired

"Not bad, old man." Nick said

"Thanks, asshole." Kenny said to Nick

"You are one tough bastard." Mike said

"Yeah, he is." Pete agreed

"Do tough bastards get their asses kicked in front of everyone?"

"No, they just fight back like everyone else does." Noah countered patting a hand on Kenny's shoulder while Clementine hugged him. "Good to see you made it, Kenny."

"You too, kid."

"Now we get the hell out of here." Ben declared

"Like, 'now' now?"

"Yeah." Noah answered. "Just in case things get fucked and we got to make a break for it. Where do we meet?"

"We could meet at Parker's run." Mike suggested

Noah raised an eyebrow. "The hell is that?"

"A civil war site. Something of a tourist trap if I'm correct." Lee stated. "I held a field trip there once."

"He's right. It's just a few mile north. Got signs all over. Just follow the road." Mike pointed out

"We stopped after the first time." Rebecca said. "Luke and Carlos know where it is."

"If a couple of people know it, then that's good." Noah said in agreement

"Then we just someone to go set off that PA, right? I mean you never explained who would set that up in the first place."

"I think I know who." Noah said, staring at Clementine along with everyone else except Luke until he figured it out

"Wait... it's her?"

"Uh huh."

"I'm gonna need a boost." Clementine said

Mike pulled on the rope so Clementine climb up to the roof, with Noah using the ladder to climb up after he wall run where the ladder was set. Clementine and Noah made it to the roof, with both of them heading toward the Carver's office. Luckily, he wasn't present as they opened the window hatch to go inside. Noah made a file cabinet down on the floor, while Clementine worked on starting the PA system. Noah went to check on Alvin who had a weaker pulse with Clementine setting a CD in the PA, hearing a woman's voice after Clementine increased the volume on the speaker and PA system. Noah went toward her as they saw Bonnie, Shel, Becca, Wyatt and Russell even Reggie ran to spring everyone out. All of a sudden, Clementine and Noah heard something opening the drawers to Carver's desk. They eyes widened when they saw it was Alvin. Alvin wanted them to leave without him, since he could no longer walk due to Carver crippling his legs as he told Clementine and Noah to look after his girls. Alvin believed that his and Rebecca's child was going to be a girl, with Noah seeing a small crossbow gun inside as well while Alvin a single-pea shooter in his hand. He grabbed the small crossbow with Clementine opening the window hatch as the file cabinet on the floor was holding whoever came to shut the PA system off. Noah opened the hatch and gave Clementine a hand, leaving both of them to head to the stockroom to meet everyone.

Then suddenly, they heard the fire of automatic gunfire coming from the stockroom. Noah and Clementine saw Carver holding everyone hostage. And Noah got sick of him babbling on how he create a world for them all. Marking himself as their savior.

Noah saw Clementine pull out the small crossbow gun and aimed it directly at Carver. "Enough of this crap." she said firing an arrow at Carver's while Noah jumped down on Carver from above, with Kenny hitting Carver square in the jaw and Luke taking his AK-47

"Get back." Luke said with Noah catching Clementine while everyone else armed themselves

"Noah, Clementine!" both turned to Rebecca. "Why isn't Alvin with you?"

"Rebecca, I don't know how to tell you this but..." Noah and Clementine looked away

Her eyes went wide as she cried. "Alvin..."

"Rebecca, I'm so sor-" Rebecca cut Luke off shoving a deadly glare at Carver

"Kill him." she said

"Rebecca, Rebecca my sweet. How did we meet you and I?"

"Kill him." Rebecca growled

"Just shoot his ass already." Noah said annoyed

"What? No, I-" Luke was cut off when Carver in the shin, crippling his left

Everyone looked to see it was Kenny who shot Carver as he shot the other shin, crippling Carver's other leg leaving him on the ground. Kenny walked ahead of Carver, grabbing a crowbar in his hand. Noah walked toward Carver, pressing his knee on Carver's chest appling weight. He sent blows left and right across Carver's face, including one going hitting him square in the jaw. Noah kept the rhytem going, going left and right in full rage as they stared at him punching Carver's teeth in. Lee was having a deja vu, like how he pummelled Andy St. John back at the farm while the group was escaping. That is when Stephanie walked up to him, showing a concerned look on her face.

"Noah. Noah!" she saw Noah hitting Carver. "He's had enough."

"The hell he has!" Rebecca disagreed

"One more..." Noah said, punching Carver directly in his nose. He picked Carver's pockets to look for his mother's necklace until he found it in his left pocket. "This belongs to my mother." he growled at Carver as he got up, kicking him in the face. "You guys get outside and start covering yourselves up." he told them as everyone went outside except for Stephanie. "You know what the plan is, right?"

"I do. But promise me one thing." Stephanie looked Noah in the eye

"What?"

"If I get bitten... I need you to shoot me in the head."

"Stephanie, I-"

"Promise me."

"I promise. I'll do it." Noah told her, with him and Stephanie sharing one last possible kiss with each other before she headed outside

"Isn't that fuckin' sweet?" Carver said weakly in sarcasm

"Shut your fucking mouth." Noah grabbed a piece of rope, tying Carver's hands behind his back along with another kick this time in the jaw

"What in the actual fuck is goin' on here?!" a voice outbursted

Noah shook his head annoyed. "Motherfucker. Not this asshole." he said realizing it was Troy who had a AK-47

"Hey, hey! Don't you even think about motherfucker." Noah kept walking closer to Troy with no fear in his eyes. "I will end you! You hear-!" Troy was cut off when Noah punched him in the nose and grabbed his AK-47, shooting only one shot in the groin which left him screaming

"My dick! You fuckin' bastard!" Troy yelled in pain with Noah walking outside, grabbing Troy and Carver by their hair

He walked outside to see everyone covered in walker blood, with Noah seeing come toward him. Ben took him one of Noah's K-Bar knives as he struck the incoming walker in the head, covering himself in muck. He wiped around his entire clothes and parts of his face repulsed by the revolting stentch, giving a last glare at Carver walkers started coming toward while Noah picked up the AK-47 along with his backpack thanks to Stephanie. He motioned his hand for everyone started moving, acting like their one of them. While they start moving through the crowd, they could hear Carver and Troy screaming in absolute pain by having their guts eaten by walkers. Then suddenly, Tavia and the guard start shooting at the herd of walkers who wondered what became of Carver. Noah started to hear panic breathing as he glanced to see it was Sarah, stuck in a panicked state. Everyone had to keep a close eye on Sarah who was with Clementine, Becca and her father Carlos.

And things took a turn for the worse when Carlos was shot in the head, leading a couple of walkers to start feeding on him. It got even worse when Sarah started screaming in horror after witnessing her father's death in front of her, leaving everyone else to fend off any walkers coming near them.

"Sarah!" Bonnie yelled firing a few shots with the AK

"Sarah!" Rebecca also yelled Sarah's name as she shot one with Noah's desert

"Shut up, Sarah!" Becca muttered glaring at her, now glancing at Clementine. "We need to get out of here! Where are the meds?"

"They're with Sarah." Clementine said. "Sarah..." she looked back to see Sarah running away from the herd

"Did she just-"

"We can talk about that, later. Right now, we have to go!" Clementine exclaimed as her and Becca ran from the walker herd once Noah had a scream from Stephanie

"Stephanie!" Noah ran toward Stephanie who was struggling to remove a walker away from her. "Hang on!"

Noah grabbed the walkers head and stabbed it in the cranium. Stephanie threw the walker away ground, and looked to see Ben finding Clementine who was frozen when they saw a walker bitting Sarita's right arm. He ran, killing every walker he saw in rage as Clementine hacked Sarita's arm. She looked in shock with Ben deciding the chop her whole hand off, with it landing on the ground. Sarita looked at Ben and Clementine in shock while she lift up her sawed off hand, letting a blood cluttering scream.


End file.
